Star Fox : Reunited With Home
by Xxstar-hit96
Summary: This is a story about how Krystal's home world reappears on the outer ring of the Lylat. Takes place after Command, when peace FINALLY falls upon the system. If you have read Emile The Watcher's, 'Denial Destiny', don't worry, this isn't stolen. I've talked to him personally and he said go for it. he will be mentioning the story in his next update.
1. Chapter 1

_AN: Sorta long this one, but it would mean a lot to me if you read it anyway, thank you. Okay, so, here we are, a new story for a new start on life. First of all I want to give a shout out to _Emile The Watcher_, he gave me the story after I asked him to use it when I hit a hard spot in my life, which I'll get to in a bit. This story takes place after _SF: Command,_ when peace finally fell upon the Lylat system. Second of all I'd like to state (to Emile The Watcher mostly) that this story, when it was first written it was the perfect combination of emotion that I needed to get writing again. Last of all I would like to dedicate this story to my grandfather._

Dedicated in loving memory of; Garry William Meredith,

August 4, 1940 - May 25, 2013.

Loving father and proud grandfather. You will be missed greatly, Rest in Peace.

(Quick disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox or any of its characters. The only character that I "own" in this chapter is; Nicole Stearn.)

Star Fox: Reunited With Home.

Chapter 1: The beginning, Is it the end?

In the very lost corner of the Lylat system it was like any other part of space... cold, desolate, dark, and not for the faint of heart if that was in anyone's thought tracks. Though you would say this was like a solar system with no planets in revolution, everybody would just refer to this as the "Lost Sector". Bill Grey was on a routine security check of the outer limits of the Lylat system with a few of his selected pilots, hand picked by William himself for this sortie. Bill hand picked these few pilots himself after he heard word that there was a tremor on the edge of the system. It was almost recorded as an earthquake in space, it disrupted the censor buoys on the outer ring of Lylat so, Bill was ordered by the government of Corneria to go and check it out.

Bill glanced out his canopy to the port side of his white Arwing IIC and panned right looking for anything that looked out-of-place to the naked eye while he waited for his conformation codes to the Defence Censor-Buoy network. The vast distance between him and Corneria, let alone the nearest comm. buoy, played hell with his reception. He got reception, just not very good. Bill stole a glance back to the monitor and saw that it was only 45-percent complete downloading. He swore under his breath and gestured for the computer to download the data that he needed faster with a turning motion of his hand, he paused and looked at his watch on his other wrist and opened a communications link up back to Corneria, "Bill Grey to command, come in over."

A holographic image opened up over his dashboard of an attractive black and white female lupine, "This is Nicole Stearn, acting communications officer of Cornerian Command Central, what can I do for you Commander Bill Grey?"

"Oh, well, I wasn't expecting this change... what time is it in the capital right now, anyway?"

Nicole glanced over her shoulder at a digital time clock on the wall, "It is currently 23:46 GCT."

"Wow..." he chuckled and shook his head, "...no wonder I feel like dosing off... right then, onto business. I'm having difficulty acquiring the Go Codes for..." Bill trailed off mid-comment as a light lit up on his dash telling him that data transfer was successful and that his Arwings computer was attempting to connect to the censor-buoy network that was acting quite defective the last 24 hours.

"Go Codes for... what, Sir?" the lady on the other line as she quirked a brow in confusion,

"Uh, nothing. I mean, not nothing, the Go Codes for the censor-buoy array on the outer rim of Lylat. But, I guess all I needed was an active communications link to complete the download that I needed. Uh, stay on the line one second while I take first look at the censor input," he opened the self-recorded files from the censor-array and found the anomaly time and looked at it, "Strange... command, I'm going to send the data from the array and give them a command to get back into formation." Bill said and tapped a few buttons on his dash sending the data collected back to command for further study. He then tapped another series of buttons to re-align the buoy system. "There... mission accomplished-."

Typhoon piped up on the comm. Link, "WAIT, Bill, look at this! You're 3 o'clock!"

Bill quickly swivelled his head to the right and his eyes grew wide, "Holy shi-" Bill trailed off as he saw what was outside his canopy, "EVERYBODY FALL BACK, NOW!"

"What is it that you see Bill?" the woman on the communication asked in a calm and mellow voice as she didn't know what was going on,

"I'M SEEIN'A FRICKIN' LIGHTNING STORM APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE!"

"Impossible Bill. We all know that space can't host properties like that."

"I'm looking at the beastie right now in my rear view! At the rate it's expanding it'll be the size of a planet if not bigger!" That was the last that Central Command heard of Bill as long range communications were knocked out by the E.M. field being generated behind him,

"Bill! It's playing hell with my shields!"

"Just hit your boost Typhoon! It'll all be over soon!" He the cut the channel to redirect power to his thrusters "_H__opefully._" he growled,

Bill and the rest of his squad broke formation to save themselves from getting either crushed by the incoming "cloud" or electrocuted by one of its many fingers of electricity. The rate it was expanding it was going to be bigger than Corneria in a matter of seconds. The amount of darkness was starting to fade as it grew outward like a supernova. Then suddenly... It just stopped.

Bill kept flying at full thrusters to get away from this possible threat, "Holy Hell, that was close." Bill murmured as he slowed down to a stop and redirected power output to normal. His on-board scanner then booted to life and scanned the new "item" that was located on his six o'clock. "So... There's a planet under that shroud." He read closer on the results and murmured the details under his breath as he read, "Planet name... unknown, Planet source... unconfirmed, Current population... mammal, Planet lead..." He trailed off as he quirked a brow and laughed, "you're kidding, right?" He tapped a few buttons and ran a new scan... same results, "No, there must be '_some__'_ mistake here." He ran the scan again and the conclusion was indeed the same, "That's impossible!"

His comm. came to life with Typhoons voice on the other line, "Uh, sir, are my scanners broken or are your readings the same, that this "planet" behind the cloud is... Um-"

Bill sighed, "Contact Corneria Command, tell them we have a planet-sized issue on our hands and tell them they have a newer more important issue on their hands... one that's gonna take them to Cerinia."

...

X-X-X-X

Bill just got off the flight deck of Cornerian head quarters and was walking toward the change room to get out of his flight-suit and into regular everyday clothes, ones that he could be in that wouldn't chaff his nether regions. Bill was glad to be back on the ground. It was a long flight back to Corneria from "Cerinia", and Bill was exasperated that he could finally get some actual sleep, '_laying down_' instead of sitting up like he was all the way there and back.

Walking through the glass sliding doors, he was greeted by the new General of the fleet. Red coat with gold braids on most of the seams within reason. Impossible to miss, and considering he new the general on a more personal level he just gave a lazy salute and kept walking to the locker rooms, that's when he was practically called from the croud,

"Bill. A moment please?"

"Sure General Peppy, what's up?" Bill inquired as he stopped on his heal and turned to face the highest ranking General of Corneria.

"Well, remember when your scanners indicated that the "planet" that appeared showed only mammal race?" Peppy asked as he took off his generals hat and stuck it between his upper-arm and torso, and dropped his arms to his sides

"Er, yeah, why?"

"Well, on the Arwing, it's scanners aren't exactly strong enough to tell what the exact population is and we were curious to prove Krystal's records that this is actually Cerinia, SO." he took a breath and continued, "We sent out a small expedition team in a shuttle with the best gear we have, and we just got the results back before you landed... '_one-hundred-percent_' of the planets population is vulpine."

"Wait," he put a hand up to his chin and brushed the tuft of longer fur, "so you're telling me that this whole planet is JUST, fox's."

"Correct." Peppy nodded,

"So if we were to send in a team of people to investigate this planet they would most likely have to be of the same race?"

"Correct again. Either that or they'd be shunned like outcasts." Peppy emphasized, and gave a quick little shooing gesture with his forearms and hands.

"Well, sir, are you forgetting that the only fox teams we have are on Fichina? They are because-"

"Because they adapt to the cold better than any other race. Yes, I know that Bill but," he lowered his voice to be more inconspicuous, "There's always Team Star Fox."

"No, absolutely not." Bill shook his head in denial, "You '_know_' that Krystal is part of that team. You even worked with them... So long as she knows, she's still the last of her kind and if this really is something related to Andross, then she will be safe from all the heart-felt sorrow knowing that her planet exists, but not her people."

"Bill, I'm sorry but, our statistics state one-hundred-percent that this is Cerinia we can't take the chance of her living life without this... '_conformation_'." Peppy placed a paw on Bill's shoulder and looked him in the eye, "We both know what this has come down to don't you?"

"Yes sir." he murmured and nodded with a frown. Bill wasn't pleased that he had to break the awkward news to a woman that he cared for.

"Good, now come with me, we have an unexpected call to make."

X-X-X-X

Feminine laughter filled the recreation room on the Great Fox dreadnought-class battle cruiser, "C'mon, Fox. I thought you said you always let the ladies go first?"

Fox McCloud gave the blue vixen a stoic look and tilted his head to the side with a half-grin.

"What? It's true. Let me serve. I'm the lady here after all." Krystal persuaded as she batted her eyelashes and placed her paw upon her chest above the swell of her bosom.

Krystal was wearing her headband to prevent any sweat from beading up on her forehead and dripping into her eyes, when she played any type of sports she was always on call for it. If it gave her any sort of a rush, she was in. To go with the purple headband that she wore, she was wearing a black tee shirt, it didn't show any signs of her sweating one bit. She was also wearing her yoga pants, yoga pants she found were really loose feeling, they didn't hug her legs overly. They did but, they weren't exactly formfitting like her Flight-suit was, it gave her leeway to move any which way she wanted or needed to. It also made her svelte figure a bit more "noticeable" to a certain fox that she secretly adored, though it wasn't inappropriate in any way, she knew it always caught his attention. And Fox being Fox, always beat himself up over his wandering eyes, that sometimes wandered down too low on a certain vixen who was a part of the team as much as Falco or Slippy were.

Fox McCloud thought about it and pondered the thought that Krystal just gave him and then he answered it to the best of his ability, "Well, yes, you are Female, I'll give you that. But I'm going to have to disagree on you being a '_lady_' because you always intentionally pick fights with the enemy." Fox smirked and picked up the badminton birdie and passed it to Krystal as she glowered at him for not calling her a lady. "You're like a hooligan. Worse than Falco, I mean." She caught the birdie and served it, intentionally aiming for the back of Fox's head. This made Falco chuckle.

"Ow. What was '_that_' for?" Fox whined, jokingly as he spun around to see Krystal smirking, "Oh, I'm so going to '_get you_' later." He growled playfully

Fox was wearing his typical red shirt and pinstripe black Oakley shorts that gave him a more casual look than a whole full blown "Gym-strip" like they give you in junior high. Fox liked being the one that looked professional doing anything. All of Fox's outfits were simple, but they weren't "cheap-looking" like people might say. Maybe some were, but did anyone give a damn? No. They were the most respected Mercenary team in all of Lylat.

She quirked a brow, "Oh, you mean in '_bed_' later." Krystal joked, tauntingly, making Falco and Slippy laugh hard.

Fox's eyes snapped wide, he wasn't expecting Krystal to propose such a threat like that, especially in front of his two best buds, he glanced back at Falco and seen him whispering something to Slippy and Slippy chuckled, when that happened his eyes started bouncing around the room in drastic thought and he started to stammer, "What!? No, uh, I-"

Fox was interrupted by the loudspeaker in the room, "Star Fox to the bridge immediately." ROB called over the PA system.

'_Thank heavens._' He sighed mentally, and ran over to the comm. terminal, "We'll uh," he stole a glance at Krystal and saw her giggling lightly from what he said in his mind, "we'll be right up ROB." Then he closed the comm. channel to the bridge and turned back to his team so that he was facing the three of them fully, "Alright Star Fox, it looks like we got something important up a head of us, so, you heard the robot. Let's move!"

X-X-X-X

"They will be right up sir, please hold." ROB said in his monotone voice to the General on the line, and went back over to his station and punched in some keys to run a power check, to see how the ship and it's systems were holding up, then ran a diagnostic to find out if the ship had to be serviced at all as they were headed back to Corneria anyway.

Seconds later the quadrature entered the bridge and approached the main view-screen, "Ah, General Peppy. And what do we owe the honour of your call today?"

Peppy looked up from his tablet back at the holo-phone and readjusted his glasses, "Ah, Fox McCloud. How nice of you to report back to me so soon."

"We all came as soon as we were called over, sir." Slippy replied as he straightened his hat.

"Good, well, I don't usually act so... '_uptight_' you might say, but, lets get to business."

"Right sir, we're all ears on this end." Krystal assured and everyone nodded in conclusion. Krystal was wearing the exact same outfit that she had on in the gym, minus the headband that she sported earlier,

"Right, uh, Slippy, is it true? Your resignation?"

"Er, yes sir, it unfortunately is. I don't really want to leave but... I promised my wife that I would after another year in the line..." Slippy murmured and trailed off, ashamed.

Falco put a wing on his shoulder, "Dude, we all had this discussion together before. We're proud of you for making that choice Slippy. Don't go thinking you made the wrong decision now, everyone has to settle down sooner or later."

"Yeah," Slippy sighed, "I guess you're right."

The general spoke up bringing all the team members' attention back to the view-screen, "Well Slip, do you feel up for a "going away" mission?"

Slippy cocked a brow, Lylat was in a state of peace. Venom was now allies with Corneria after eons of needless fighting, there was pretty much no need for Star Fox anymore. There was nothing that Star Fox could do to beat the Cornerian army in a state like this. The current state that Corneria was in was numerous amounts of at-the-ready soldiers. A mission call intrigued Slippy, "What of, General Pep?"

Peppy sighed, "That's what I was afraid you would ask... I kinda wanted you guys to come back to Corneria, so we could brief you four on it, but," he trailed off and looked away for a moment to take a deep breath, he started to speak before he glanced back, "I guess since you're already in space... It won't matter much... In fact, I think you'll want to act quicker after you hear what it is that I have to say..." He trailed off again and removed his hat,

"What is it General? Whatever it is, Star Fox is on it, like white on rice... even you know that."

"Yes well, I'm also worried about that... You see... 36 hours ago there was a "disturbance" in the Outer-Lylat censor ring. So 24 hours later we sent out our best pilots. This included Bill Grey and a few of his chosen pilots-"

"What happened to them, are they okay?" Fox asked in a worried voice,

Peppy chuckled, "Now hold on." He cleared his throat into his paw and continued, "They're fine, a little shaken up from what they saw, but everyone is fine." Peppy nodded and Fox sighed in relief, "I called you because this mission is most important to the young lady of your team. And I'd prefer you to be briefed by someone who experienced this sort of thing in person, and uh, let me be one to say, Krystal will '_definitely_' be calling us some serious names in the book after she hears what Bill has to say," he turned to his left and gestured for someone to come on-screen, then nodded and backed away to allow Bill's image to appear,

Fox was the first to greet his old dorm-room pal from the academy, "Ah, Bill, and what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Hello Fox, good to see you my friend. Krystal, Slippy, Falco, all nice to see you guys."

"Same here." the trio agreed in response,

"Well, considering you four aren't here in person to be asked to sit down, I still ask that you please be seated at this time." The team responded by shrugging and taking seats. "Good. And at this time I would like you to take a look at a few photographs," Bill clicked a few buttons on his side and a few images popped up on Fox's monitor, "do any of you know what planet you're looking at right now?"

"No sir." Fox replied as he turned to face his team to see what their opinion was on the matter, Krystal was surprised, however she played along with everyone else and shook her head in unison with Falco and Slippy

"Well, we are under, uh... Hell how do I say this with out being called names or laughed at... uh... Oh right... There is none... Well then, here goes... we're under the great assumption that this planet you have just looked at is indeed... Cerinia-"

Krystal shot up from her chair first, while it was on wheels it rolled halfway across the bridge. She raised her hand and pointed at Bills image, "BULLSHIT! Bill Grey, you are full of SHIT! I '_saw_' that planet die..." She started to break under the stress of reliving that memory she witnessed many years ago, by now she was starting to sob lightly when she spoke, "I was, there, I saw it..." She sobbed as she cupped her face in her paws, rubbing gently and then she looked up, "I saw it die with my own two eyes." She cried.

"Now, Krystal, we're not saying or calling you a liar of '_any_' kind... But what I witnessed first hand is most definitely true. This planet matches up to what your old record database has told us and we believe it's the real deal here."

Fox was first at Krystal's side with a paw on her shoulder for emotional comfort as she cried into her paws, suddenly her knees started to shake underneath her from the reliving of such an emotional memory and she collapsed onto them, still lightly sobbing, Fox knelt beside her as she started to murmur things under her breath, "It's impossible, there's no way that's..." She sniffled and looked up at the picture again, "_Cerinia_." she sighed and put her face back into her paws. She didn't like what she saw... there was no way for her to even remotely tell if this the real deal or some joke Corneria was playing on the team, it was intergalactic joke day after all.

Fox gestured to Falco and then to Krystal's kicked away chair and then brought his arm back to him in a swooping manner gesturing for him to come here.

Falco stood and walked over to the chair on wheels and pushed it over to Fox and Krystal. Fox nodded in thanks and helped Krystal back up to her feet and into the chair, "So, uh... is this all you wanted? Was to tell me... '_Us_' about the planet?"

"No we... We want you to explore it. With Krystal."

Fox leaned in close to Krystal and whispered in her ear, "Will you be able and willing to accompany me on this mission?"

She nodded in silence still lightly sobbing into her paws.

"We'll do it then Bill. On one condition."

"Anything,"

"We get paid triple the usual rate because this planet is so far away, and you bring us a transport shuttle for this mission."

"Done. Thank you for acting so fast on this matter. And Krystal, I'm sorry you're the one to go and survey this yourself... we '_wanted_' to send a team but-"

"But, my planet is one-hundred-percent vulpine... the only differ to ever visit my planet was Andross and now they fear everyone except their own race." she sighed and dried her eyes on the back of her paws, Fox patted her on the shoulder for emotional comfort, "I'm okay, I'm okay." she whispered, "Um," her voice was shaky, she brushed a loch of hair behind her ear hand held her arm in place, thinking, "was there anything else we needed to know, Bill?"

"Not that I know of Krystal... OH! There is, yes, all of your records that you gave us based on your planet from your ship... so far, one-hundred-percent of the records add up."

"Well..." she shook her head, "...that clears a lot up. Thanks for the update on the matter."

Krystal shook her head for only two reasons; one was a happy thought, about her records adding up and that this was truly her planet and that she would see her people again. The other was a type of thought that some people think when they believe things are too-good-to-be-true, and that her planet was a terraformed meteor from a different part of the universe transported there, and used as bait to kill the sole remaining Cerinian.

"No problem Krystal... If you guys need anything or need any advice on anything don't hesitate to call back."

"Right Bill, just send us the coordinates to the planet and we'll be on call."

"Alright I'll send them when the call ends. Make sure you guys stay alert and safe and get lots of sleep."

"Alright," Fox chuckled, "Bye now."

"Alright bud, peace." Bill gave a lazy salute and then the call was closed from his side of the communication link, leaving Fox and the rest of the team to look upon the Cornerian flag.

"Alright everyone, get some sleep, I'll have ROB punch in, and take us to the coordinates we were given and I will too be on my way to bed."

"Alright Fox, good call I was starting to get restless anyway. Krystal," Falco called and Krystal lifted her head and looked at him expectantly, "...will you be okay?"

Krystal nodded her head slowly and then spoke up, "I'll... I'll be fine, I'll just go and meditate... maybe do some stretches to get my mind off of this for now."

Falco nodded, this was the always strong Krystal, that he saw on a day to day basis. It was only now and again which he seen Krystal break down like she did moments prior, she was doing a good job holding herself together, "Okay... glad to see you're taking it well... for the most part."

Krystal, Slippy, and Falco turned in for the night. Fox was reading over some files the Bill sent along with the coordinates given, they were a little emotionally challenging, and nerve-racking in nature. When he was done reading the notes he gave ROB instruction to take them out of hyperspace and turn them back around and take them to the new coordinates that he was e-mailed, and then he as well called it a night.

...


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Wow. Never thought I would be saying this. But, this is starting to turn out good. Thank you all for reading, and thank you for all the excellent advice to make this story great. That's all I got for the PRE-STORY AN's, so please read on and enjoy Chapter 2.

**... Chapter 2: Krystal after hours...**

That night Krystal was in her quarters. She meditated to help clear her mind before bed but it did little help, as she still couldn't get to sleep. She was just too wound up and had way too many thoughts on her mind for one person to handle at one point in time. While laying on her side, eyes open looking out the viewport to the vastness of space, she started to imagine settling down on her home planet and starting a family, kits running around playing tag with one another, Krystal and her mate on the back porch of their house onlooking the beautiful orange sunset of August while their kits were in bed. She smiled to herself and let her eyes close to an entirely different thought. Her mind took a one-eighty and she started to imagine a shell of a planet, once her own, invaded and taken over by some demonic creatures that have been concocted by the evil mastermind himself; Andross Oikonni. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up with a start, panting lightly. Krystal kicked the covers off and sat on the side of her bed wearing nothing but the bare essentials, she lightly rubbed her temples and thought of better things she could be doing now rather than have that nasty thought in her brain. "I could really use some tea." She murmured to herself. Standing up, she walked to her dresser and got some loose shorts and a tank top and put them on,

She exited her quarters and walked to the mess hall,

X-X-X-X

Fox McCloud was already out of bed. He was wearing plain black shorts and no shirt. He couldn't sleep either, and it was driving him mad so he too got up and went to the kitchen for a nice, hot cup of relaxing tea. The low light setting that was enabled in that moment, was perfect for vulpine vision, late at night.

"This had better not be Oikonni's doing I swear..." Fox mumbled to himself taking the kettle off the boil-pad and poured himself a cup of hot water to let his tea bags steep, and returned the ceramic kettle to the boil-pad.

"You too, huh?"

"Holy f-! Krystal, you scared me." He said as it startled him. Had he not been in such a hurry to get his tea he would have been covered in scalding hot water.

"Sorry,"

"It's okay," He turned around with his cup of tea and sat down at the round table in the middle of the room, "And to answer your question... yeah, I can't sleep..."

Krystal raised a brow inconspicuously to the fact that Fox wasn't wearing a shirt and stretched her neck a little to cover the fact that she was checking him out. His orange fur contrasted highly by the white spot that went from under his shoulders to his navel. Not once had she ever seen Fox with his shirt off on the Great Fox so she was caught in the sight and she felt herself blush so she cleared her throat to get her mind off the current topic and on to another to calm herself down, "What's the matter? Vixen got your tongue?" She smiled having cheered herself up a bit and then glanced at the steaming kettle.

Fox narrowed his eyes a little, "Ha, ha, very funny..." he said and sighed as he picked up his cup and returned his gaze to normal, "Nah, got too much on my mind. What about you, what keeps you awake?" he asked as he took a sip of his freshly brewed tea,

She paused in thought, '_I want to be with you for the night, someone I can count on to be there for me..._' Then she spoke up, "I... same..." she huffed, mentally she cursed at herself for withholding information from the person she secretly loved and the same person that was her Commander-in-chief, "Is that fresh water?"

"Just been boiled. Help yourself," Fox said as he stood up and walked over to the kettle to make Krystal feel more at ease, "unless you want to take a seat and let me know what else's on your mind while I fix you some."

She smiled and nodded as she moved over to the table and took a seat that was closet to Fox's chair, "Such a gentleman you are Fox, I'm glad to see some men can see passed my looks when I need them the most."

Fox peered over his shoulder to the vixen and nodded, "Whatever you need Krystal, I'm here for you, and I'll do it for you. No matter what."

'_This is definitely who I want in my life._' She sighed and rubbed her eyes gently and then crossed her wrists on the table as she leaned forward, "I had a vision, were, I went back and lived on Cerinia. I found a loving mate, had a kit, and settled down. Then... I had another vision, or... dream - whatever you want to call it, - where this was all Oikonni's doing and my race was still... you know..." She trailed off as she looked away from Fox and down to the table in sorrow.

Fox turned on his heel holding a cup of steaming tea and brought it over to Krystal, "I understand where you're coming from Krystal. You don't have to finish that. Here's your tea."

"Thanks." she said in gratitude both thanking for the tea and thanking because she didn't have to say her race might still be gone,

"Not a problem, Krys. Anything else you want to talk to me about? I'm all ears you know." Fox sighed as he settled back in his chair

Krystal finished taking a sip of her tea quickly and set it down on the table in front of her and shook her head as she gulped the tea down, "Fox, you're sweet to me. I don't want to be the one who tarnishes this relationship we have going on with me dropping all my feelings on you."

Fox shook his head and insisted that she tell him what's on her mind, "No, no, it's the least I can do for you."

Krystal frowned, Fox caught on and placed a paw on hers and tapped it comfortingly, "Really, I want nothing but the best for you."

"Well... This may sound like the '_most_' awkward thing to ask someone... Especially you..." She took a deep breath and sighed, "I just... something about this whole Cerinia thing... it's got my mind jumping through hoops and... I... I can't sleep no matter what I try... I tried meditation, my age old herbal rub that I made you that one time, yoga... nothing works." A tear ran down her cheek and Fox stood up and wiped it away with his thumb while pulling his chair closer,

"Whatever it is, you can tell me." he said sitting back down, this time he was about a foot away from her. A good position to be in if Krystal needed to be calmed down quickly with a kiss.

"I..." She looked him in the eye, "you swear it won't effect our current relationship."

"I swear it on my life." Fox said as he crossed his heart twice. Something so simple, meant so much in that very moment,

"Well... okay... I want to see if having someone by my side while I sleep will help clear my insomnia... There, I said it, happy?"

"'_Krystal,_'" Fox sighed as he placed his paw on the side of her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb, "you were scared about asking me to join you in something as simple as being by your side while sleeping to make you feel better?"

"Well... yeah, I mean I joked about it earlier today but..." she shrugged, "I was just kidding around to see your bashful side that I adore... I didn't think it would ever become a serious thought topic and... I don't know... I was kinda scared you'd have rejected my offer if it was for my personal benefit."

"Okay, Krystal, let me put it this way for you... We're being naïve... we're spending time with one another to calm each others nerves about this whole situation... It's not like we're having sex, C'mon now."

Krystal chucked at Fox's attempt at humour, "Okay Fox, you're right, thank you."

"No worries, really. Shall we finish our tea before we call it a night?"

She smiled in the dim light of the kitchen, "No sense in letting it go to waste."

The two fox's finished their tea and chit-chatted on miscellaneous topics. Some based on Cerinia others were just comforting and caring and the rest were tacky romance talks.

"You know," Fox chuckled, "I'm never really one to talk like this around women, or, I should rephrase that, I'm not one to talk like this around beautiful women or a woman as beautiful as yourself."

Krystal giggled, "Me? Beautiful? Nah. Besides, I'm wearing men's shorts and a green tank top-"

"That's pretty hot though. Even still, you could be wearing the baggiest sweatpants and sweatshirt and I'd still call you beautiful."

"No way, you're just saying that to make me feel better about myself."

"No frickin' way, you're beautiful, no matter what."

Krystal nodded in a nonchalant way, "Mhmm, okay... hmm... what if I were to spar against you... and even if you gave it your all - and yes I know you don't - and if I won would you '_still_' call me beautiful, the '_same_' way you did when you found me floating in that crystal on Sauria?"

Fox chuckled a little in spite of himself and leaned back in his chair looking up thinking about his time back on Sauria, "Oh, speaking of that, I thought it would've been so ironic if your name was Krystal and you were stuck in a crystal. And it was. Really ironic and really cute. I loved that-"

Krystal giggled lightly, "You didn't answer my question, Fox."

Fox gestured with his hand to wait before jumping to conclusion, "Now hang on, I was getting there. To answer your question... no, I wouldn't-"

Krystal stood up and pointed at Fox in a gloating manner "HA! I knew it-"

Fox chuckled and shook his head, "Are you going to let me finish?"

She narrowed her eyes with a half smirk and nodded slowly, "Okay gent, I'll let you finish," she took a seat and stared at him waiting for him to finish,

"I wouldn't call you beautiful, no, I'd call you sexy." He smiled.

She grinned and gave him a little shove, "'_Oh_' you flirt."

"True story, babe-" Fox's eyes grew wide and he face-palmed '_oh, that did not just come out_' he rubbed his temples and dragged his hand down his muzzle with a light groan as he looked back to Krystal through his short eyelashes, "Sorry, I, didn't mean to say that."

In all of Krystal's years at Star Fox, never once had Fox said something like that. She was taken by surprise at the fact he said "Babe" to her, she almost let her eyes grow wide but she retained her posture and just sat there like nothing happened.

Krystal raised her hand and waved it dismayingly, "No, it's okay, I thought it was cute and appropriate."

Fox looked at her in a confused and taken manner. He was thrown of guard to her sudden change in attitude, "You don't think it was rushed?"

Krystal cocked her head to the side and glowered at his "way too professional" attitude, "Fox... How long have we known each other." she asked in a semi-demanding voice

He gave it quick thought, "Six... going on seven years now." He nodded.

"Exactly, so '_I_' think that this was called for eventually."

"That may be so but, every person I've loved has either been killed for my cause or the family cause or harsh breakups, even you know the mercenary thing, you know, not for the faint-of-heart kinda thing."

Krystal glared at him with a stoic look, "How long have I been a part of the team then?"

Fox quickly gave it some thought and replied with a confident nod of his head, "Uh, six years now."

"Bingo... am I just a figment of your imagination or can you still touch me?"

"I... Is that a trick question?" he asked, surprised, as he cocked his head in confusion,

Krystal sighed and rolled her eyes, "Am I here in this moment, '_alive_', or am I here in your mind. Just another way of asking if I'm dead that's all."

"Well of course your not dead. That's a-"

"Weird question?" Fox nodded, Krystal laughed, "Some days I feel that's the only way you can understand me."

"It's because I'm tired. My mind works like that. When I'm overtired people almost have to talk in riddles for me to understand."

"Really? That is '_so_' weird."

"Yeah, I know, by the way I was just wondering if you were tired at all? Not that I'm rushing to get into bed with you, but, I figured I'd ask you if you were tired yet."

"I am a little, we have inventory to do tomorrow anyway, so, yeah we should go."

"Fair enough, here, pass your cup I'll put it in the dishwasher."

Krystal slid her mug across the wood table as she smiled toward him, '_I__f Star Fox ever retires... I want to live with him and possibly call him my mate. I'm sure he wouldn't mind me being his wife and mate... He might even adore it._'

...

In Fox's quarters - the one with the bigger bed - the duo Fox and Krystal were laying side by side chatting a bit more, winding each other down before they slept. Krystal had her head resting on Fox's chest while he laid on his back with his left arm wrapped underneath her and draped across her back, stroking lightly.

She smiled and nuzzled Fox's chest as her eyes fluttered shut, "Fox?"

"Yeah, Krys?"

"Did you know that, you make me feel so at ease with myself?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it for a moment, out on missions I'm always on guard, which is a given. When I'm anywhere else on the ship, with anybody, or even alone, I'm always... Er, you know, clear minded and alert; always on my toes waiting for anything to happen. But when I'm with you like this or even like we were in the kitchen, I allow myself to let go, drop my defences you know? I only ever do that around people I trust my life to."

"Yeah? I thought you trust your life to the entire team?"

"Well, yes, that may be so but, you're always the first person I come to for help."

"Really?"

"Mhmm,"

"And that's a good thing right?"

"Very good thing." She sighed as she nuzzled Fox's chest again and silently inhaled his scent. The scent she always thought about to get her through the toughest of situations

"Well that's nice to hear," he yawned using his right paw to cover his mouth, "well, I'm beat, you make sure you tell me if anything else bothers you okay?"

"Like... during my sleep?" she asked opening her eyes slowly,

"Anytime. Whether it's your dreams that bother you or if it's got anything to do with anything else."

She smiled, "Okay Fox, thanks for taking the time to care about me and thank you for being so open to me about it." Krystal murmured as her eyes fluttered shut, and her breathing became relaxed

"Oh, don't mention it, it's nothing really, now please get some sleep." Fox suggested. His suggestion fell upon deaf ears as Krystal was softly purring as she succumbed to sleep, Fox chuckled quietly, "Have a good sleep Krys," Fox whispered, and he too, succumbed to the dark relaxed depths of sleep

X-X-X-X

...

Krystal was walking down one of the most luxurious beaches in Corneria, she thought to herself that this beach looked similar to Cape Claw on Sauria, Fox had taken her there shortly after the Aparoid war ended, to calm her down. With telepathy feelings become more intense, too much feeling and heartache can harm oneself. As Krystal was walking on the deserted beach, she decided to take her sandals off and allow her feet to slosh in the constant incoming and retreating water, it felt pleasant. She started to hum a tune to herself as she added a bit of a skip to her step.

She stopped humming and moving when she heard her name being called from a distance, "Krystal? Oh, there you are. I figured you would be out here on the beach. It's always been your favourite place to be since we bought the beach estate."

Krystal giggled, "That it has Fox, and it's always deserted, I like that."

Fox chuckled and shook his head with a smile, "You're not thinking kits already are you? We haven't even been married a week yet." Fox said as he kept walking closer to Krystal.

"Well, I know that, but no. I like the quiet beach, so you can be alone with your thoughts, and also this is a west-facing quiet beach; no kids running around and we can spoon one another and enjoy all the beautiful sunsets Corneria has to offer."

Fox chuckled, "You certainly love your spooning babe." Fox said as he leaned in to kiss Krystal, she gladly accepted and welcomed it. The recent newly-weds' kiss lasted quite long and when it was broken Fox and Krystal brushed noses and walked back to the house hand-in-hand.

Krystal decided to start conversation with Fox, "So how was your first day at work?"

"It was good. I'm glad you talked me into a career change. That mercenary life was '_dangerous_'."

"I'm glad I was able to talk you out." Krystal smiled as she walked over toward the stairs that lead her and her husband, Fox up to their house patio

The deck and stairs had a beautiful copperwood finish and weatherproofing to protect from the sea salt. The house itself was a rich cream colour and the windows they had were large picture windows to let in light and two sets on french doors, one facing the west and one facing southwest on the other side of the party-size deck.

"I miss living in space though." Fox murmured as he slowly swung his and Krystal's paw forward and back. "Go to any planet you want at a moments notice. Like your planet for instance, very beautiful planet, nice people too. I'm glad you were able to talk your mom and dad into appointing a different person as rightful heir; we still have exploring to do after all. Before we settle down for good."

Krystal was quiet for a little and then spoke, "I wonder how my people are making out with the new king, I hope he's doing a good job."

"I'm sure he's doing an excellent job. C'mon, I picked up steak on my way home from the bakery."

"Of course, you know my favourite food is steak." Krystal smiled as she leaned in to Fox and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek,

They walked in the back door to the house to a ringing phone, Fox went over and answered it. She could see him having a conversation on the phone, yet once he picked up the phone she went completely deaf, she just stood there, frozen in her tracks. The only thing she could hear was the ringing of some device in the background. It was so familiar yet it was so far away. Her vision started to go blurry, so she blinked a few times, still standing in the same spot. The more she blinked to clear her vision, the darker and more blurry it became, '_A__m I dying? No. It can't be. I'm too young!_'

...

That thought was her last as she opened her eyes, she was laying on her right side. It was almost as if Fox teleported out from underneath her and went someplace else. The gauntlet on the nightstand was still ringing so she reached a hand out toward it and picked it up. The caller I.D. read; Bill Grey: priority one... Important in nature and as curious as Krystal was, she accepted.

"Bill? What's the matter?"

Bill's eyes widened slightly and he tilted his head, "Krystal? Why do you have Fox's gauntlet?"

Krystal sat up in bed with a light feminine groan, "It's a long story Bill. So what's with calling high priority at... 2:00 in the morning?"

"Um, I tried calling earlier with low priority but I got the voicemail right away because it's after hours."

"Why did you call so early though? Couldn't it have waited until opening hours?"

"Well I was thinking that, but, I don't have any experienced people on duty tomorrow to tell you we ran some scans on the area of space around the planet to find out where it originated."

"Well that makes perfect sense," she said as she wiped the remaining sleep from her eyes, "what's the news on that by the way?"

"You look like you just woke up Krystal. I didn't wake you in the next room did I?"

"No, I was in the same room."

"Wha..." Bill was confused and he cocked a brow.

She yawned and wiped her eyes again, "Again, Bill, it's a long story." Bill nodded, "What did you learn from the scans?"

"Sorry I woke you." He cleared his throat and continued, "Well, we learned, somewhat, what happened, it was pulled thought a time-slip,"

"Uh, you lost me..."

Bill snickered, "Sorry, I know you just woke up."

"So speak in sluggish Cornerian," Krystal giggled,

Bill grinned, "Okay, when you were younger and your planet was destroyed... It wasn't '_destroyed_' it was pulled through a gravity-well using an artificial gravity generator. So since it was put into a different dimension so-to-speak, artificially... over time, natural time-space took over and basically said "no, you don't belong here we are sending you back to where you naturally came from."... Er... So-to-speak."

"So my planet is... Still my planet?"

"So far as we're able to tell Krystal." he said with a frown, "Again, I'm sorry we can't give you anymore information, but until either we get a team over there or until you guys get there, we'll keep running every scan we possibly can from space. But that's all we can do for now. I wish we could do more for you Krystal. I sorta know what you're going through."

Krystal yawned, "Oh, it's okay Bill. You're doing all you can and that's what counts."

Bill smiled at the compliment, "Okay, sorry I woke you again, go to sleep and the next time you see Fox, tell him to give me a call."

Krystal sighed, "He '_was_' sleeping with me, but he just vanished... And I'm too emotionally compromised to reach out to him and find him."

"He was... sleeping '_with_' you?"

"Again, it's a '_long_' story Bill."

"No, I understand that. I'm just surprised he's fulfilling his secret love- oh crap, I wasn't supposed to say anything." He shook his head and sighed, "Can you keep a secret?"

Krystal giggled, "Of course Mr. Grey, your secret will remain safe with me." She smiled when Bill let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, well, enough chit-chat. Go back to sleep."

Krystal giggled, "Okay Bill, thanks. I'll have Fox contact you."

"Okay, bye now." Bill ended the call

Krystal set the gauntlet back on the nightstand and settled back into bed laying on her back with her tail wrapped around her waist and draped across her chest and she was holding it like a blue furry pillow, she pulled her hands up through the long tail fur and grinned to herself in a love-struck way. '_So... Fox McCloud __'_does'_ love me... he sure hides it well..._' Just the thought of Krystal becoming Fox's mate for life after all these years sent a chill of ecstasy down her spine.

Krystal sat there, in Fox's bed alone, thinking about what it would be like to officially call Fox her mate. Her eyes danced around the bedroom ceiling aimlessly in deep thought, and then she shut her eyes tight and shook her head, '_Too early for that, girl, you know that..._'

Once her mind kicked in fully and her body started to come out of the sleep state, she realized that she needed to pee, so she rolled over to the side of the bed and sat up, she quickly stretched her shoulders to get the blood flowing so that when she stood up her arms wouldn't lose circulation and fall asleep.

When she stood up she walked over to the bedroom door and opened it. Walking into the living room she passed the television set that Fox had set up a few feet away from the bedroom door and approached the couch on the other side of the coffee table. As she got closer her ear started to flicker, hearing a soft, quiet, masculine voice,

"Krystal, you know that I'll always love you..." Fox murmured quietly in his sleep,

'_I wonder what he's dreaming about tonight._' She thought as she passed the couch that Fox was sleeping on to get to the bathroom.

...

Stepping out she went back to the side of the couch. Curiosity killed this sexy vixen.

"Do you really want me to?... You're going to have to name him then, okay?... I'm no good with names..."

'_Okay... What about, __Marcus__?_' She thought to herself acting out what may be happening in Fox's dreams

"That name is great sweetie, thank you for the honour of being your husband and mate." Fox being fully asleep his speech was drawn out slowly and he spoke in a volume that was barely audible,

'_The honour is all mine, dear._' She leaned over Fox's unconscious form and kissed his cheek, "Goodnight Fox, sleep well." She whispered, and stepped back to look at him before she turned and went back to the bedroom.

All in all the two Fox's had the exact same thought on their mind; becoming one another's friend and acquaintance in a different light. Being married was something that came first in both fox's mind starting a family came later, but it was still there. Though expressing one another's love for each other was the sketchy part. But you could still feel the love and emotion that they held for one another in their hearts...

...

Okay thats the end of chapter two. please R&R and again thanks for reading. it means a lot, (with dedication and rewriting someone else's work, the amount of time put into this {[3 weeks 1300-0400 writing] and waking up at ten daily to go to work... lemme tell ya, it'll suck the life from you. but still i do it and still i'll keep doing it} that's what i wanted though... thats how dedicated i was. Enough about the history about the story though lets save it for a different date. onto the poll that i created earlier this morning. I've been currently working on a new story, and i have been for a while (since march) and i have no idea on how to put Krystal into the story, and that's where i need your help as readers.

**Poll below **\/

If you have played Star Fox adventures, or watched the YouTube videos about how Krystal gets thrown into the crystal, answer me this... Who liked seeing that happen to her? Our favorite blue vixen? Vote: yes/no. Thanks.

Yes, I liked it when Andross boligerantly hit my favorite blue vixen and started to kill her slowly.

No, I thought it was cruel and if I was the creator I would have changed it.

(For effed up readers...) Maybe... what if she liked it? (looks around like nothing happened. _"Okay i'm safe. I think.") _{whoever chooses this is messed up... _I've already voted no. so don't worry.}_

Review with your answer and your commentary.

_LMAO _okay thats it this week readers, thanks for finding time to read and vote on my poll, it will help me build the next story.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: thank you all for reading my story, I really can't be happier for all the views and thank you to those who reviewed._

**...Chapter 3: Days in the line of duty can be emotional part 1...**

The few days that have gone by were okay-feeling. Krystal felt okay emotional-wise, and every member of the team was there for Krystal if she needed anything. Having your planet appear out of nowhere after many years was very troubling, emotional-wise. One moment Krystal was happy that her planet was back and the next she was scared that this was all the doing of Oikonni; the first different-race mammal to visit Planet Cerinia. He's the one who ruined it for everyone else. Now, the only race to actually be welcomed to the planet was vulpine.

The closer that The Great Fox got toward Cerinia, the more uneasy Krystal became. If nobody knew who she was like Fox, Falco, and Slippy did they would call her mentally insane and say that she needed help. But that wasn't the case for Krystal, every minute in hyperspace Krystal's frontal lobe started to "act up". She started to faintly sense young kits running around and playing games with everyone else, she could sense the elders, but she was still too far away to communicate with them.

...

The Great Fox dropped out of Hyperspace and parked in the orbit of Cerinia's moon; Meredith, Cerinia's largest of five moons. Being so large, Meredith generated its own gravitational field that allowed ships like Great Fox orbit it safely. Fox McCloud ordered ROB to turn off all running lights and cloak the ship, so that when night fell on Cerinia, the ship wouldn't block out light from the moon, furthermore, wouldn't spook the planet's population.

Fox McCloud called a followup meeting for all members of the team to discuss who was doing what during the mission, "Well, a new planet appeared on the edge of Lylat this week and we've been asked to check it out. Falco and Slippy, you two stay up on Great Fox and be ready just in case we need air-support. Krystal and I will hit the planet considering this was... possibly her home-world. Get suited up and let's go!"

Krystal was nervous, you could see it in her eyes and in her hands as she reached for gear; they were very shaky. She didn't even make a joke about it like she always would any other mission with Fox. There was no, _"__A__ mission together at last."_ Not even a smile and a little friendly shove came from her, like usual. No, she practically turned herself off socially as she stocked herself for the mission at hand.

Falco cupped a hand around his beak and whispered loudly to get Fox's attention, "Hey, Fox."

Fox responded by coming over to Falco and asking, "What's up man?"

Falco lowered his voice even further to try and prevent the blue vixen in the corner of the room from hearing him, "What's up with Krys? She seems... Eh... Distant lately."

Fox shrugged, he didn't really know what to make out of it, "My guess... She's nervous man. She hasn't seen her planet since she was like nineteen and now she's going on twenty-_six_... Man, how would you feel if you were that young and you witness your planets destruction and then out of the blue, '_seven_'years later, it just '_shows up_'?"

Falco nodded slightly and sighed, pulling his gaze from the distraught looking blue vixen in the corner back toward Fox who was standing in front of him, "It's true, I'd have to admit, I'd be the same way. Yet I'd be different, everybody would... Who am I trying to kid. This is the '_first time_' a case like this has ever happened... Be careful down there with her Fox. We won't be able to tell if this is actually Cerinia or if it's just something related to the Oikonni empire, '_she_' will." Falco said as he pointed toward the vixen, "So keep her safe. Put her safety b-"

Fox being as frustrated as he was and yet still anxious he sighed and finished he sentence for him faster than if he were to do it for Fox, "Yes Falco, put her safety before mine, stay by her side for emotional comfort if necessary... Just, please, worry about your job and keep Slippy safe. I'm not going to be there for him."

Falco glared at him and put a wing on Fox's shoulder and gave it a firm pat, "Alright man, have fun."

He looked the Falcon in the eye, "Remain on the ready, we'll go out first and call up if needed." He turned away from Falco toward Krystal, and hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "Hey Krystal I'm going to get the shuttle prepped and ready to go... Do you need any help."

"No I'm ready now, Fox... Lets go." Krystal replied in a shaky voice as she turned from the equipment cabinet. She had moist eyes... she was over-thinking the situation and she was worried that she would still be the last of her kind.

Fox placed a paw upon her shoulder stopping her before she could pass him and looked at her in a caring yet suspicious way and then opened his mouth to speak, "Are you going to be able to give this mission your all?"

"Of course Fox... I'm just... Shocked that's all." She assured as she reached a paw up to her blue-green eyes and rubbed them as to dry the last remaining moisture from them.

"Okay, well... Shall we go then?"

"Yes." She murmured and walked by Fox to the flight-deck, Fox fell into step behind her. As he entered the hangar he used his gauntlet to remote start the electronics on the shuttle craft and lower the rear gangplank to allow access to the cock-pit.

Once they boarded the craft the engines roared to life filling the shuttle with a soft hum. Fox took all his extra packs off and put them behind his seat on the bulkhead, Krystal did the same while Fox sat down in the pilots seat and finished the boot sequence and lifted of the flight deck, "You ready Krys?"

"As I'll ever be I guess." She sighed as she slumped into the co-pilot seat and gazed out the porthole on her right down at the blue globe that was thought out to be her planet. Cerinia, a long thought lost planet that appeared a few days ago on the far outer rim of the Lylat.

Such a hypnotizing sight, as soon as Krystal laid eyes on it she couldn't take here eyes off of it. At the same time she had her doubts. The more she thought about it the more she could've sworn she heard the laughter of many young kits running around the village playing childhood games the same as she used to when she was their age, it was heartbreaking the fact that she was hearing all of this happen, she couldn't confirm it, she didn't know if it was real or if it was just in her head she closed her eyes and lowered her head away from the viewport because her neck was starting to ache from all the gazing out the window.

Fox, who was piloting the ship took a moment to glance at her static form in the co-pilot seat, re-entry through the planets atmosphere caused the ships control-stick to pull to the side, violently, causing Fox's attention to be put back toward flying the craft, after he made sure all-was-good he took a second glance at Krystal. He was shocked that she hadn't said anything during the trip down from Great Fox that it was just second-nature for him to speak up in a time like this...

"So... excited?"

She opened her eyes slowly and cut her gaze to Fox, "Hmm?" she stared at him with curious turquoise green eyes,

Her curious gaze startled him... he knew she was telepathic. She should've been able to sense what Fox was getting at, and yet nothing came to her mind. Maybe all the excitement and nervousness was getting the better of her to the point she couldn't sense anything... even from a person less that three feet away from her.

"Excited about what we'll find down there, on the surface?"

"Oh." She murmured and cut her gaze back out the window, the small beads in her hair clicked gently. She gave Fox's comment a little more thought as her tail twitched pensively. "I guess so, Fox." Krystal went back in time so-to-speak, instead of wearing her pink-coloured flight-suit like she did during the Anglar Blitz, she wore her black and blue body suit like she did during the Aparoid invasion.

Fox raised a brow toward her sceptical answer as they dropped through the atmosphere, the red glow faded and they entered the fluffy pure-white cloud layer of the planet. "You... guess?" unlike her Fox was wearing jeans, a black shirt, and his white vest with the red flying fox logo across his back with a caption underneath that read _"This flying fox will always protect Lylat."_

Krystal sighed and shook her head, "Fox... It could all be a hoax for all I know... It's really hard to deny what I saw when I was a little girl." she paused and took a breath to try and calm her thoughts so she could think with her full strength, then continued, "But, still, a small part of me hopes that the messages from Corneria are true. For all I know right now... I'm still the last of my kind and this is just a shell of a planet." she gestured through the view-screen to the rapidly closing jungle in front of them, "This, here, might very-well be Cerinia..." she trailed off and looked away as Fox started the landing sequence and set down next to the tall, stone, engraving-covered temple and then initiated the shutdown sequence, "...It still looks like Cerinia..."

Fox Quirked a brow at the fact she had her voice trail off like she saw a ghost, "...But?..."

She shook her head as she circled the temple at the coordinates they had been given, "I don't recognize this part. Then again, I never left my village until the day the planet was destroyed."

The shuttle beeped twice alerting the pilot that the fuel cell reactor has cooled down to a safe level and could safely be restarted if necessary, "Well, that's why we're here right? To confirm for the Cornerian scouts that this is Cerinia?"

Krystal stood up as soon as she got the okay from the shuttle telling her the stats of the outer air-quality index, another possibility of the planet being fraudulent was the fact that the air-quality didn't match the records at least somewhat... they matched one-hundred-percent. Coincidence? Perhaps.

She then equipped herself with a staff holster above her right shoulder for easy access to the mystical staff weapon of her home-world and the she strapped on a standard-issue waist holster which held her custom blaster that she had since a few days after joining the team.

Krystal liked blasters, especially hand guns because they were smaller, more nimble weapons than the assault-rifles that Fox and Falco always carried with them, yet she always took a liking to her staff – not once had it failed her. Sure she mistakenly dropped it on Sauria when she was in the stormy cloud layer, but that was human error. Once she had those holsters on she looked back toward Fox and smiled, he couldn't help but return the gesture and grab her backpack from behind her seat and hand it to her politely, she took it and thanked him as she put it on. Fox had his own hip-holster for his own custom high-calibre blaster and one holster on his adjacent hip big enough to hold his binoculars. Fox picked up his own backpack and shouldered it. Each pack held two days worth of food rations, water, flares, climbing gear, and first-aid kits. Strapped to the top of the back packs that they were wearing were small sleeping bags, just in case it got too dark to make it back to the shuttle safely. Fox gave Krystal a pat on the shoulder with a smile and a nod. Fox led Krystal down the ramp of the shuttle to the grassy green earth of Cerinia. Krystal inhaled the scent of the earth to judge personally if this was indeed her planet, "Smells like Cerinia, looks like Cerinia... let's take a look around and check out some more places that I remember vividly. Those places will show tell-tale signs of being something related to Andross, if there '_is_' something that doesn't add up, we should get the Hell outta' here and come back with reinforcements."

Fox gave her a confirming nod, "Sounds like a plan. Let's get moving."

Fox and Krystal walked a fair ways in the afternoon sun and talked. In some areas Krystal would stop and point out little things like a certain species of animal or a certain plant that only originated on her planet. They walked out to a canyon that Krystal remembered going to as a child. This particular canyon was sacred to her race. It was where she was made an official member of her tribe; The Cardinal Sun. She got her five tattoos here, also, as recognition that she was of royal blood. Fox didn't know this just yet. He was under the impression so far that she was just a "chosen one" to leave her planet.

"This canyon, here, is sacred to my people. It's where girls become recognized as women and boys, recognized as men."

"Has it changed at all?" Fox asked in a bit of a shy voice. A new planet like this was a pretty big deal to both him and Krystal, he didn't want to have to bring in any reinforcements to such a beautiful place, but he would if it was necessary. And Krystal... this was her home, she would do what she had to, to protect it, she would start with peace but she also had the same mindset as Fox, if she had to take drastic measures... she would.

Krystal knelt down and brushed her hand over the centre piece rock where a person sits to get their tattoo brandings. She smiled and nodded, "If Andross '_did_' have anything to do with this, he would have needed to have decades upon decades of generations of carvers to carve this type of rock. This rock right here," She pointed toward it, "this type of rock isn't like any others, this one in particular generates its own force-field. Such a field that would dull '_any_' tool that contacts it for more than ten seconds. '_Plus_', even with a mad scientist behind all this... you can't give rock life like this one naturally has," she saw Fox quirk a brow and gestured back to the stone, "This stone, when I touched it, it welcomed me home."

"The only way that could happen is if this is the real deal right? That this is actually Cerinia?"

Krystal smiled brightly and started to get moist eyes, "Fox... this '_is_' Cerinia... I'm home, after all these years... I'm finally home!" she cried in a cheerful voice as her tail fluffed out.

"Um, Krystal, I don't mean to burst your bubble or anything, but... if this is Cerinia, where are all of the people?"

Krystal flicked her tail to flatten out the fur, "I... don't know, Fox. Lets go back to that temple we touched down beside, and take a look around."

"Right."

Krystal was in deep thought. No matter what you tried to do you couldn't steal her smile. She was struck that this was her planet. She was glad that her planet wasn't wiped out, like she had first thought. She suppressed her other thought about what state her people were in. In the back of Krystal's mind she held the thought of still being the last survivor of her race because of the fact that she hadn't seen any of her kind... at all. Yet.

They hiked back up the cliff and Fox was caught off guard by Krystal's sudden lack of talking so he decided to play a game with her on the way to the temple, a quarter of a mile away. Fox smiled deviously, "So, Krystal?"

"Yes, Fox?" She asked back in reply as she turned her head to face him, still smiling.

Fox raised a paw and brushed a loch of head fur up and behind her ear and then moved his hand back in front of her muzzle and rested a finger on her nose, "Tag, you're IT!" He exclaimed and took off,

'_Dang, I didn't see _'that' _coming_.' Krystal thought quickly seeing Fox run ahead a few yards before she broke into chase and yelled back at him, "Not fair! You didn't tell me you wanted to play tag!"

Fox laughed maniacally, "Where's the fun in that?" He yelled back,

"Oh, I am '_SO_' going to get you!"

"Maybe in a different lifetime!"

"OH, that's IT!" Krystal screamed as she tapped in to her inner telepathy and gave herself a quick, small dose of adrenaline. She quickly ran faster, with less feeling of drag. The yardage in-between herself and Fox started to close slowly, but every stride she was getting closer to Fox. Yards became feet and then at the last possible moment she lunged at Fox, latching onto him and knocking him down. They rolled a few times and then stopped with Krystal on the top of the "fox-pile". (AN: instead of dog-pile.) She let go of Fox and sat up so she was sitting on Fox's midsection, "HA. Tag you're it. What are you gonna do now Fox? Can't do nothin'." she gloated as she was panting lightly

"I could do this." As he said that he reached his paws up to her shoulders and pulled her down to him as he rolled onto his hands and knees with Krystal in-between him and the ground and leaned in and kissed her.

Krystal's eyes widened in shock. It took her less than a second to realize what happened, and when she did she closed her eyes and melted into the kiss,

They both had the same thought on their mind at the same time, '_Damn, have I been waiting to do this..._'

When the kiss was broken, both of them sighed, "'_Wow_...'"

Fox cleared his throat and stood up. He put out a paw and helped Krystal up, "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"But the kiss was nice." she assured, getting to her feet,

"Erm, well..." he scratched he back of his head, "don't you think it was bad timing? I mean, we're supposed to be looking around and charting the planet, not, making out."

"I don't know..." she scuffed the ground with her foot and looked down bashfully, "I thought it would be good to, take a break."

Fox smiled and place a paw on he shoulder, "You're so optimistic. I like that."

They kept walking toward the temple. When they both got to the temple they slowed down so they were walking side by side through the large wooden temple doors. Fox turned on his under-barrel flashlight, and Krystal got out her pistol and flashlight and crossed her wrists, holding the gun in her right and the light in the left, left hand underneath

Fox looked at Krystal. Her being in a good mood currently, sensed that he was looking at her in a confirming way, so she stole a glance back at Fox and gave a confirming nod.

Over the six years at Star Fox, she practised her "telepathic to non-telepathic" thought transfers with Fox, it got her accustomed to using her "less invasive" telepathic uses. She used her "lower power" powers and started a thought communication with Fox, _"__Okay Fox, I can't sense anything on this level... let's proceed down to the cellar and try and find someone..."_

"_Can't you sense people if they were down there?"_

"_No Fox... our floors are similar to that stone in the canyon... they have fields that protect against our telepathy... if there are people down there that could possibly sense our peaceful intentions, they wouldn't be able to tell... that's why if there are people down there, they haven't come to greet us yet..."_

"_weird... well, shall we proceed downstairs?"_

"_Yes we shall,"_

Krystal and Fox found their way to a set of stairs in the back of the temple that led down to the depths of the cellar. The duo started their way down the steep worn out stairs, now and again they would come upon landings that made it possible for the stairs to go right from straight. Every second landing they would stop and take breathers every now and again. It was on the third rest break that Krystal suddenly stood up and pocketed her light and holstered her weapon and grabbed her staff extending it to the ready and paused. Fox, who was watching her out of the corner of his eye, got up and withdrew his pistol blaster as well and brought it to the ready. He kept switching his aim from where they came from and where they were going, and when he figured the coast way clear he spoke softly to keep his presence down, "Krystal? What's wrong?" he paused waiting for her reply, thought or vocal. When she still didn't answer him he stole a glance back to the svelte vixen, what he saw made him lower his weapon and face her fully, "Krystal?"

The svelte blue vixen was knelt on one knee and appeared to be in deep thought with something and her head was bowed as if she was praying, "Krystal?" he asked in a shy and quiet voice as he knelt down beside her and rested his hand on her back, "Krystal, what did you sense?"

After a brief pause she started to cry softly. Instinctively, Fox wrapped his arms around her and started to stroke her back comfortingly, "Krystal... what's wrong?"

She lifted her head and blinked... That's when Fox saw it, the smile Krystal had on her muzzle that represented pure joy and happiness that he hadn't seen on her in a long time, "Nothing's wrong Fox..." She trailed of with a sigh, it sounded like relief that she had this type of closure, "Can't you feel them?"

Fox scowled and cocked his head to the side, very much confused, "Feel who?"

Krystal giggled softly, tears of joy still running down her fur, she paused a moment and smiled brightly, "I can feel them Fox... and they can feel us."

Fox was pretty confused at first and didn't know what to make of it, then it clicked, "Them..." He blinked, "The Cerinians?!"

Krystal laughed a little with a small hiccup at the end and nodded emphatically, "Cerinians Fox, I'm not alone. They're here, they're below us, waiting."

Fox took her hand and they both stood up in unison. Fox was lost for a moment, he didn't know if this was a prank like he played on her before they got to the temple... but then again she wouldn't joke like this about her people or act as joyful, he glanced down the passageway that led them lower into the cellar and saw there was a trace amount of light. He was surprised he hadn't seen that before, but then again... was it there to begin with? Fox holstered his sidearm, "Well... let's not keep them waiting for our arrival then, Krys."

The two continued their descent, only this time at a faster pace that was less cautious because there were no threats here. Krystal was the one to lead the way down. She had an excitement that Fox had yet to see out of her off the battlefield. She was the type of woman who enjoyed thrills as much as a cup of tea. They kept descending down the stairs, two at a time most of the way, as she was getting closer to her people she told Fox why they were underground, "They all use the villages, but when they saw the ship punch the atmosphere and level out they thought they were being invaded so they took refuge underground."

It wasn't much longer until the duo made it down to the bottom of the stairs, Krystal stopped in her tracks as she let out a sharp gasp of amazement as she took in the sights of the large cavern. Fox was shocked by the image of everyone here having blue and white fur like Krystal's fur only not the same design and layout as hers. He started to feel out of place, being the only one there with orange fur. There were a lot of blue foxes walking around, all dressed pretty much the same way that Krystal was when he found her floating on Sauria. Fox started to feel the emotion of thankfulness and respect form around him and he started to feel more at ease about the drastic differance in fur colour. As he felt more welcome he started releasing his gaze off to the sides of the cave. All the designs on the walls, it almost looked like Cornerian graffiti, only this held ceremonial beliefs behind it. Krystal kept walking forward to the most ornately dressed Cerinian in the cavern and gave a bow of her head, they both exchanged thought communication.

X-X-X-X

"_Please my Queen, it is I who should be bowing to you."_ The elder stood up from his chair, _"It is good to see you after all these years young Krystal, some of us feared you were lost from us for eternity."_

He lowered himself down to one knee and bowed his head, this started a chain reaction and everyone in the cave started to bow in sequence.

Fox was confused, he didn't know why this was happening, or who caused everyone to start bowing all of the sudden, curiosity got the better of him and he spoke up, "Why is he and everyone else, kneeling before you Krystal?"

Krystal, being on her own since she was nineteen after her planet was destroyed didn't feel it was a requirement to tell anybody that she was of royal blood. She was going to say what? She was the Queen of an extinct race. Her palms started to get clammy and she got the shakes as she blushed, unsure of how to break the news to Fox after all these years, "I..." she started and paused

Five antagonizing seconds passed by and the Elder took over after he heard what Krystal was thinking. She was thinking of just ignoring Fox's question in general. "Krystal is the last royal of the Cardinal Sun."

Fox's eyes grew wide having found out this news and he bowed his head and knelt before Krystal like everyone else was doing so after the Elder told him that she was a royal

Krystal huffed and started to shout, "No! Stand! I don't '_need_' nor do I '_want_' this recognition!"

Fox and everyone else stood and went about their business.

Fox was taken by surprise as he heard Krystal's voice being put inside his head, _"Fox, the only reason I didn't tell you was because I don't need the special treatment, it makes me feel incompetent, unable to do anything on my own because, "Oh, she's a royal." No. I don't want that. And... I am deeply sorry that I never told you, I was just worried about how you would see me after if I did tell you."_

Fox focused on her as she did to him, instead of the elder. When it all finally sunk in to his mind he gave a confirming nod and carried on with his onlooking of the cave,

He found a spot where he could catch up on some much needed sleep. When he laid down to get some shut-eye, he heard Krystal shriek, "WHAT?! No... I can't!"

...

AN: well there we have chapter 3... and a cliffhanger... What's going to happen? No one knows except for Emile The Watcher (no spoilers please). Okay as for last chapter, there was a bit of a withdrawal on reviews (no big deal) but for this chapter since its two parts and I am completely done, if I get enough positive feedback and reviews I will consider posting the next chapter early meaning in the next day or two (if I get enough reviews)

As for all the reviews of last chapter... Sorry I haven't replied to any of them yet I have been really busy, wedding and all the fun stuff.

thanks for the reviews and votes in the poll.

till next chapter, this is Xxstar-hit96

P-sout


	4. Chapter 4

...Chapter 4: Days in the line of duty can be emotional part 2...

Krystal was shocked at finding out what she did from the Elder, she was almost enraged but for the most part she was downright scared at what this meant. She calmed herself down a bit so that she wasn't deafening everyone in the cavern, "But... I have a life back in Lylat, a home, a..." she looked at Fox and a thought came to her mind and she changed it, "...Friends..." she murmured looking back to the floor. She knew what being Queen meant to her people, she didn't want that life. She wanted exploration and adventure, a life as to which being Queen couldn't deliver to her.

Fox, who had laid down to get some sleep, forgot about the binding ties of his exhaustion and shot up from the ground and jogged over to the other side of the cellar where Krystal was, with the highest ranking Elder, "Is there a problem here?" he asked in a bit of a demanding voice toward the Elder after he heard Krystal cry out.

The Elder spoke as Krystal looked down to the ground, mostly in shame, "Queen Krystal seems hesitant to stay were she belongs..." The Elder trailed off as Fox interrupted him,

"She belongs with m- I mean, Star Fox." Fox almost made the mistake of saying she belonged with him, as his mate-for-life. At the end of the sentence he wished he had have said that because that might've changed the Elder's mind, "We never expected to find you guys here. The rest of Lylat still thinks this planet doesn't exist anymore." every word said added more fear and anger to his voice, "Krystal and I both need to return-"

The Elder raised a paw to silence him and shook his head in strong disagreement, "You may leave, but our Queen must stay, we have waited years for her return."

Fox crossed his arms with hate and practically spat at the Elder, "'_You_' can't make her stay, just like '_I_' can't make her come with me."

Fox and the Elder both fell silent as they looked to Krystal who was in deep thought, chewing her bottom lip pensively. She eventually looked up and locked gazes with Fox. The emotion on her face had him looking away with regret as her voice passed by in his thoughts, _"__He's right you know... I need to stay."_

"Fox..." She started, as she reached out to him, to feel him one last time before she was abandoned, just like he abandoned her a couple of years ago to "protect" her. Fox just took a step back, and walked away. He knew if she gave him one last hug, she wouldn't let go and he too, would be forced to stay.

Fox got a few steps away from Krystal and looked over his shoulder to the heartbroken Krystal, "I don't fault you for your choice Krystal, these are your people, they need a ruler to become civil." he turned his head and kept walking to the stairs, then he stopped just shy of them and called back, "I'll be back in the morning to say goodbye and then I will be on my way home to report." he never looked back to them when he said that didn't want to let Krystal see that he had tears of his own and they were pouring down his face in pain, the pain of losing a love,

Krystal sensed his pain and blinked away tears of her own as she stepped forward, only to be stopped by the Elder. She looked at him in a loathing way and looked back to the stairway Fox was at prior and saw that he was gone...

She looked back at the Elder and communicated with him through thought and then they turned and went up a different stairway up to Krystal's private chambers.

X-X-X-X

By the time Fox got back to his shuttle he was crying like a heartbroken child that didn't get to go to the petting zoo. He entered the shuttle and collapsed onto the bed,

A few minutes later, Fox McCloud was still in the shuttle alone, sniffling every-so-often. He was still laying down on the hide-a-bed, holding a pillow like a girl would after finding out her boyfriend dumped her, a night before prom, '_Grow up, Fox... GROW UP!_' he then sat up and called back to Great Fox to check in and report the results of the mission,

Falco answered the video call and his image appeared on screen, "Hey Fox, what's u-... have you been '_crying_'?" Falco cocked his head to the side confused about his friends actions.

Not once has Falco seen Fox cry like he was now, it was really abnormal for him. He was always the professional that everyone else came to for help. He hasn't cried like this ever since he got word from the Cornerian Army that his father disappeared and was presumed Killed-In-Action.

Fox gave a silent nod and sniffled again as he wiped tears of sorrow from his eyes with the backs of his paws.

Falco made a conclusion as to why he was crying and Krystal wasn't there and spoke out what was on his mind, "What happened?! Is Krystal okay?"

Fox nodded again as he looked up to the holofeed, "She's just, '_royal_'." he murmured, his voice was shallow because he was distressed that the elders of Cerinia told him that Krystal couldn't return to space.

Falco sighed on the call, "Whew... Well then, Why you cryin'?"

Falco was just as oblivious to the "royal" topic as Fox was. Not once had Krystal told the team about her past. Maybe it was because her planet was destroyed, maybe because she didn't want other people to recognize her the wrong way... news topics would go ballistic about that... tomorrows news headline; STAR FOX: CONTROLLED BY BITCHY BLUE QUEEN?... nobody wanted this, it would be terrible for business too.

"Just that... Krystal is a royal and she's not allowed to leave the planet." he sighed and looked down to the deck, "Ever."

"MY GOD! Really? How come she didn't say anything before?"

"She doesn't want the "Royal-pain-in-the-ass" treatment... she wanted to be normal, but the Elders won't let her." he raised his head and paw in unison, and gave his outstretched paw a few twirls in the air, "Something about her being the last royal to live on Cerinia, and having to get her ready to go into the villages to find a suitable mate to continue the royal bloodline of the "Cardinal Sun".

Falco shook his head in disappointment, "So what? We'll be down '_two_' pilots now?"

"There many not '_be__'_ Star Fox anymore." Fox sighed and shook his head as he looked to the deck and lowered his ears when Falco shouted at him

His Eyes shot wide, surprised, "WHAT!? What do you mean there won't be Star Fox anymore?!"

Fox then sighed and raised a paw and rubbed his brow pensively, "I don't know Falco, I just... I'll call you in the morning, before I take off. I need to do some debating and I need some sleep and I'll need to say my goodbyes and... I don't know I haven't been through '_this_' before."

"Alright... just follow your instincts bro... talk to you tomorrow." Falco ended the holo-call and Fox eased back on the bed looking straight up at the bulkhead and then he heard a voice, "'_Fox McCloud?_'"

"Go away." He said aloud, not wanting to remind himself about his secret love's way of communicate was through thought only.

"'_I wish for you to __hear w__hat I have to say Mr. McCloud._'"

Fox sighed and rolled over in his bed so his back was facing where he thought the Elder might be, "Like I could stop you..."

He heard the Elder let out a soft chuckle into his mind, "'_N__o, but, I think you will actually like what it is that I have to say." _He paused for dramatic effect, _"__Since Krystal first entered my range, I __have been talking to her__-"_

"And what does '_that_' entail Mr. Elder? That you finally see the keeping her, here against her will is wrong?"

_"No... since I have been talking to her, I have seen inside her that she is always thinking of you in some way, shape, or form."_

Fox huffed, "So, I'm the team leader. Without me, Star Fox is nothing. I've saved her life countless times which is no problem I don't care about that... That's why she thinks of me so much... Trust, that's why."

The Elder chuckled in his head, "_N__ope, wrong again young lad... Do you just want me to tell you what her thoughts are about you? What she deeply wants to make herself out to be with every fiber of her being, and why _'she' _was the one who came back to _'you'_"_

"NO, those are her thoughts, not mine... What's hers is hers and that's that. So forget everything you saw, or I'll be the one to..."

The Elder laughed a little in his mind, _"__T__hat's what I wanted to hear from you Fox."_

"What do you mean, Elder?"

_"You share the same mindset as Krystal."_

Fox was quiet and then he spoke, "Oh."

_"Don't be so quick to give up on her Fox. Two more things... One, if you decide to come back ever again and Krystal isn't there to greet you, you'll need a way passed the sentries, give them my name and they will bring you to me... My name is Garry, but you shall only address me as Elder Garry... Is that clear?"_

"Yes, Elder Garry."

_"Right... second of all, us Cerinians can't dive into a persons thoughts that deep. I only know what she truly feels, from the strong emotion that her heart radiates. Oh, and one more thing, you need to decide before tomorrow night... your shuttle isn't welcome here. It disturbs the peace."_

The Elder left Fox alone to his thoughts. He kept asking himself if he should still leave and report back home or if he should stay here, with the person he knew, deep inside his heart that he loved and cared about exponentially. He was fighting a loosing battle, his pros out weighed his cons of leaving, and he wasn't sure what he could do. If he left, he would be able to protect Lylat over again if needed. If he stayed, he would be able to protect his love, but not be able to protect Lylat. One person, Verses, '_billions upon billions_' of people. New generations for instance, if Fox ever left Lylat, those generations could be in jeopardy. But the fact of the matter was, Fox was getting old... and he wasn't getting any younger that was for sure... maybe it was time to settle down.

Fox closed his bloodshot eyes and sighed, he cursed at himself for making this choice... he had to leave. He had to move on... with, or with out Krystal. So she was his butter to his bread, there was absolutely '_no_' denying the fact that he still had duties to protect Lylat.

Did he blame Krystal for not coming with him, no. Did he blame the people? The Elders? Anyone? No. This was all the work of fate... Fate brought Cerinia "Back from the dead". And it just so happened that Krystal was born into a royal family, was it '_her_' fault? '_Absolutely not_'.

As Fox kept pondering the thoughts as he laid down on his back on the double size mattress of the well maintained, empty shuttle. It was a boring grey colour, the fluorescent lights in the ceiling were white and gave the ship light and somehow gave life to everything boring.

Boring... that's one of the words that kept reverberating itself around in his mind, '_My life will be boring without her... but I need to leave... It's my duty._'

Fox kept a wallet size photo of Krystal in his wallet, with Krystal's permission of course. He kept the photo with him in case he ever lost his mind for real and needed a kick in the ass, so-to-speak, to keep him running toward his goal, whatever that goal may be.

He got out the photo from the hidden compartment in his wallet, it helped preserve the picture from any wrinkles. The picture was a portrait of Krystal looking over her shoulder, through the corners of her eyes and up at the same time through her eye-lashes, smiling in a way that any man would love to see at any time of the day. She was wearing a tight pink strapless dress that hugged her curves flawlessly, she captured a lot of eyes that night the picture was taken, from single men, and a few from men in relationships and even a couple from jealous women. The single men stood back because Krystal asked that Fox be her dinner-partner that evening.

"Krystal..." Fox sighed as he stroked his thumb over the picture, imagining touching her again.

Her soft blue fur, rustling in the cool summer evening breeze, a picture perfect moment. She glanced over her shoulder and up at Fox just in time for him to take a picture of her at the perfect time. It was a completely unexpected photo, but it turned out so beautifully, it was the perfect portrait photo, "If you want, you can keep a copy in your wallet. Just in case you need some reminder to keep living your life spontaneously."

Fox who was reviewing the perfect photo that he had just taken, looked back at Krystal from across the table-for-two, "Wow, really?" He asked and Krystal nodded after she finished a small sip of the champagne that Fox was generous enough to buy, "Thanks, Krystal."

A small giggle escaped her maw and she smiled, "No problem, Fox. It's just a picture."

Fox smiled at Krystal as he put his phone back into his pocket and took a sip of his champagne. They both looked out over the bay at the beautiful Cornerian summer sunset and Fox sighed, "You know, that's the second most beautiful thing I've seen in my life."

Intrigued by his comment she asked, "Really? Second? What's first on your list?"

"Well, believe it or not, but, it's the girl who's sitting across the table from me."

Krystal looked left and then right and back to Fox with pleading eyes as she placed her fingers on her chest, "Me?"

Fox chuckled and Krystal lowered her ears a little, sceptically, "No, the Krystal next to you. Of course you."

Krystal blushed and replied as she blinked twice, "Aww, you're so sweet Fox. Thank you for being my dinner-partner this evening."

"My pleasure. Thank you for asking, it is after all a five star restaurant."

The duet sat in silence for a while longer, mostly all of the rest of the customers left the restaurant after eating and talking a little. Soft lounge music could be heard being played, and the steward came up to them and asked them to politely leave because it was about two hours passed closing time,

"That late? Wow. I guess we should head home now eh, Krystal?"

"I guess so." she stood up and got a little dizzy, "Whew... shouldn'ta had that last glass of champagne."

"You gonna be okay?" Fox asked, worried that she might not be able to walk on her own.

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine," Krystal said to Fox and after felt a little cold as she didn't bring a jacket with her and she shivered a bit when she left the warm seat, Fox immediately saw this and gave her, his sport-jacket. She looked up at him in a thanking way and smiled when he nodded back in regards, he put his arm around her and they walked back to the hotel that the team was residing in, as they were waiting for the Great Fox to finish being refitted. Again.

Fox placed the photograph back in his wallet and then fell asleep, hating himself for the choice he made moments prior to his remembrance of a fine time, fine-dinning with Krystal.

...

X-X-X-X

A tri-tone alert filled the vicinity of the bridge on the Great Fox dreadnaught, Falco who was on morning post duty got up out of the Captains chair with his morning coffee and walked over to the communications terminal and pressed the accept tab on the touch screen controls. Not even second later Fox's image appeared over the terminal, and Falco smiled and greeted him with a classic "good morning" spiel.

Fox, who didn't get more than an hours worth of sleep last night, grumbled a sentence that was non-legible. It was for the better. The sentence contained more cuss-words than actual words, "It most certainly is NOT a good morning... but whatever, good morning back to you skipper. I am just about out the door and on my way back to the village to say my final farewells and then I'll be back up top and we can go home, relax, and get paid... hopefully this doesn't effect me as bad as it did when I told Krystal she needed to go, and then when I needed her she's nowhere to be found... drinking to get wasted every night... not eating... I don't want this to be a repeat of that... I'll just give Krystal a final farewell and tell her she made the right choice, maybe give her a hug, and tell her it's all for the better."

Falco sighed and shook his head, he never seen Fox give up on such a task so easily before. Fox would always be the last person to decide to give up on ANY mission... he tisked and crooked his head lightly, "Do what YOU, feel is right man... don't be doing anything special for us up here because its your job... Do it because you felt it was right in your heart... think about that when you say your goodbye." his stoic attitude that he had started to build rage in his bloodstream so he ended the call before he let his emotion explode.

X-X-X-X

"I'll think about it... I'LL FRICKEN' THINK ABOUT IT, THE SAME AS I HAVE BEEN FOR THE LAST EIGHTEEN HOURS! FUCK!" he swore as he exited the shuttle. Realizing what he just did he took a quick innocent look around the ship to see if anyone was around to hear that. When he thought that all was clear, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose to calm him self down and then he started off to the temple of the Cardinal Sun. Grumbling all the way there, you could sometimes hear what he was saying to himself, "Why are all the hard decisions mine to make?" he asked himself in a whisper. Cluing himself in, he whispered to himself again as he came up to the front gates of the temple, "Oh yeah, that's why." Fox was the captain of the team, it was his duty to make all the hard decisions.

As soon as Fox got to the temple gates he stopped at a fair distance and waited. It wasn't long until Krystal turned the corner of the left side of the door. It almost seemed to Fox that she had been doing the same thing, practising what to say. He assumed this because as he showed up at the temple it was almost as if Krystal was on the other side of the door, contemplating things.

When he saw Krystal, his heart sank, he remembered meeting Krystal for the first time on Sauria and how she belligerently took her staff back from him. She was wearing her loincloth and brass coloured, bra-like top and also her shoulder, wrist, and shin guards, all were polished and decorated how royalty would have them and to top it all off she had her staff extended, using it like a walking stick. It too, was polished, it's finish was so shinny that it almost appeared to glow in the late morning sun.

Fox on the other hand was dressed in navy blue shorts that went down to his knees and a light blue shirt that he usually only wore around the Great Fox. But today, he didn't care, because after today, he would most likely never see his love again.

Fox slightly bowed his head in recognition, it was appropriate, but it wasn't necessary. He did it though just to show gratitude that Krystal made the right choice, "Krystal,"

Krystal sighed as she stuck the end of her staff into the ground and folded her arms. She didn't care about the shinny finish that her staff had been given. She liked her staff better the way it was before, dull and unimportant looking, just how she wanted to feel in the first place. Minority... like everyone else. She gave a nod and licked her lips to moisten them and swallowed hard to keep the tears at bay, "Fox," She murmured,

He looked down at the grass in shame and then looked back up to Krystal, "I'm sorry Krystal," he sighed as he looked back down to the lush green grass between him and Krystal, who was standing about ten feet away from him, "but... I need to leave... if I could stay... I would, but... I can't" she shook his head as he closed his eyes.

"I know Fox, I know." she turned back on her heel and gestured to one of the guards and communicated by thought to him momentarily. He then went into the temple and retrieved everything that was Krystal's that didn't belong to this world, and came back out and set it beside Krystal.

She knelt down and picked up her blue and black Star Fox bodysuit uniform and held it up, she relived all the good, bad and the ugly times with Star Fox, but the good times were the ones that stood out the most. It brought a smile to her face and then she folded the suit once in half, vertically, and three times horizontally. "I'm gonna miss this old thing," she said and knelt back down and put it into the pack that she had brought with her yesterday.

"Why not just keep it then?" Fox inquired as he raised a brow,

Krystal shook her head sadly, "I can't, because if my people see me with it they will think I don't want to be here or don't want to be the one to govern them. If that wasn't the case though... I'd wear it all the time, to have some kind of physical keepsake from Star Fox-"

"If that's the case then," He started as he opened his gauntlet menu and took the password off and pulled it from his wrist and held it out to Krystal, "Take this, it's small enough that you can keep it in your chambers and it's not very noticeable... maybe you could wear it..."

Krystal nodded and slowly approached Fox, "Thank you. I will treasure this." she said in a bit of an insecure voice as she took the wrist-computer, still biting back the tears. She slipped it onto her left wrist after she took off the guard, her lower lip trembled. Still she didn't cry. After she took a moment to look at it and try to think of what this little piece of equipment has gone through for her, she looked back at Fox and threw her arms around him and gave him a hug, her last hug to the man she loved, "Thank you Fox, this means so much to me."

"Anything for you Krystal..." Fox replied, still hugging Krystal and patting her back now and again. **Anything for you Krystal... **those four words, he heard them bounce off the sides of his skull and repeat themselves over and over again in his mind, **Anything for you Krystal...** _'Enough! I must go... it's my job.'_

Krystal took a deep breath of Fox's scent and sighed as she let go and stepped back to where the backpack was and picked it up, she walked back to Fox and gave him the bag, he slung it over his right shoulder and started to turn away, "Wait, Fox."

He turned back toward her as she held out her wrist-guard, "This might be too small for you, but, I want you to have it."

He looked down at the shinny piece of metal and back up to meet the facial expressions of Krystal and back down, and up, "Really?"

"Yes, Fox. Fair trade."

He slowly took the guard and slipped it over his wrist. It fit like a glove, and he smiled similar to the way a man would the first time he holds his newborn son, "Thank you, Krystal."

"No worries, now go, the Elder told me that your ship disturbs the peace. I know I'm now the Queen and all but, there still is punishment to be dealt to people who disturb the peace... For that, _I_'m sorry."

Fox nodded still looking at his parting gift, "I... I understand."

Fox turned and walked away, when he got to the tree line he looked back, Krystal was still standing there, he waved and she returned the gesture. Though hard to see from the vast distance, she was starting to cry. Fox gave a sorrow nod and turned and kept walking to the shuttlecraft through the jungle.

...


	5. Chapter 5

Hello all. Star-Hit back again for the final chapter of _Star Fox: reunited with home._ Upon looking at the clock and it saying 00:20, I would say that I was late on uploading this chapter... For that I apologize. Thank you all for reading and I do hope that I've made a lot of people's day by posting this. Now to the story... I assume most of you have noticed the UPPERCASE word next to the chapter title, and that is because... it is, had I not rewritten this with some much needed advice from the original author (Emile The Watcher) this chapter would have been rushed, choppy, and probably would have crashed and burned. Hopefully I did a good enough job on this chapter, and I now douse my torch and allow you to enjoy the fifth and final chapter of the story...

* * *

Chapter 5 ALTERNATE: The end to a grave journey.

Fox McCloud had said his goodbyes and was sitting in the pilot seat of the shuttle. He was in a really somber mood. The more he thought about this whole situation the more he thought about staying. He couldn't stay so he stopped thinking about the situation completely. He tapped a few buttons and scanned his paw print on the ignition scanner, "ACCESS GRANTED" the computer said and started the crafts electronics automatically. Fox waited for them to come online, all the while, he was thinking... The engines roared to life and after a few seconds it left a soft purr which then winded down to a hum. The trio light on the dash; red, yellow and green, went green from yellow, alerting the pilot that the external dampeners could be deactivated to enable take off procedure.

Fox took another glance back at the empty copilot seat next to him and then looked back to his controls. He put his left hand on the throttle and lined his right forefinger up with the red button that deactivated the external dampeners. Still in deep thought, he hesitated on pressing that button.

He stole another glance back at the empty seat next to him, he frowned at the empty space and thought back a few nights ago back to when they were first called to the mission, and smiled as he took his hands off the controls and picked up a standard issue tablet from underneath the dash and typed on it.

X-X-X-X

Krystal was still outside the doors to the temple looking at where Fox had landed the shuttle yesterday before the mission officially started, when it finally took off after a few minutes of idle-time she raised her left hand and arm and straightened it, the start of her planet's salute, "Goodbye Fox, I will always remember you in my heart." Then she brought her arm to her chest and bowed her head, dropping more tears of sorrow onto the lush green grass below her sandals. Once she was done giving a silent prayer she dropped her paw to the side and plucked her staff from the ground with her right and turned to head back into the temple. Since the sentries were on shift change, the tall doors were closed behind her, and she felt like she lost her soul-mate.

She walked down the tall decorated hallway, tail limp and void of life, dragging on the stone floor as she kept walking back to her royal chambers and cried herself to sleep, an afternoon nap was needed because, she wasn't able to sleep last night.

Her being in such a mood, she didn't bother locking the door or getting undressed. She just climbed on top of her king-sized bed to the middle and got under the covers and laid on her left side, back to the door, all the while she was starting to cry more and more for her loss. She moved her left arm around under the blanket and brought it out from underneath so she could look at the parting gift one more time before she succumbed to sleep.

X-X-X-X

It wasn't long before the shuttle came in to dock with Great Fox. The shuttle came through the forcefeild and landed in the corner of the hangar of Great Fox, a typical spot where the computer would pick a place to land. Falco was there to greet Fox back to the land of technology and beer. The shuttle deactivated and the gangplank lowered... nobody came out. Intrigued, Falco entered the shuttle, finding it void of people. A white flashing screen of a tablet caught his attention. He set down the two ice-cold cans of light beer on the shelf behind the pilots seat, and picked the tablet up by its handle and deactivated the beacon. There left on the screen, was a note titled; Save my name, and remember me this way.

_Dear remaining members of star Fox, you read this today and you will think I am crazy, read it a few days from today and you will hoot and holler and tell me I made the right choice. Well here's the news... Slippy you said you wanted to retire from the line maybe get an office job working for Corneria, that's great... I'm proud of you son, I'm proud you came to fly with us for the extra year. Falco, you always said you wanted to have your own merc. team but didn't want me to be your rival, well, I won't be anymore. I made a decision a few minutes ago that I will settle down and live my life with Krystal, on Cerinia, free from technology, (except my gauntlet.) Please, for the sake of this planet, tell Corneria command to NEVER send ANY jets or shuttles down to the planet surface without my approval and the elders' approval (hence keeping my gauntlet with me.) Falco, my friend, take the reins bro, your life is in your own hands... Go and make something of it._

_Farewell all, this is Fox McCloud signing off..._

"Are you effing kidding me?! I'm proud of you '_now_' Fox, you're following your true instincts, the ones that were telling you since you met Krystal, to start having a woman in your life."

Falco has always seen the way Fox was around Krystal... polite, kind, caring, and generous. He seen the fire that burned in his eyes some days when he was in a really crappy or angry mood, and when Krystal came around him, it was like he was a new person, a mellower person, a person any woman would fall in love with and call a mature man. Krystal was the type of girl you didn't mess with and get away. She held grudges. But with Fox, she let him off every time. Maybe it was because he was team leader? No, this was different. There was something about her that she hid from everyone, but as the days turned into months, and months into years, she got sloppier at trying to hide this "look" from everyone, the look of love. Falco and Slippy both seen this in Krystal, Fox never looked at the emotion on her face for a long enough time to notice this look. Neither Falco nor Slippy wanted to ruin the cool vibes going on by snitching on either Fox or Krystal

"That's it buddy... follow your instincts." Falco murmured with a grin on his face. He took the tablet and booked it out of the shuttle, he had to find Slippy, and tell him the news.

X-X-X-X

Fox McCloud was on his last and final mission. He ran through the Cerinian jungle, keeping his mind virtually clear of any and all thoughts that could give his presence away to his true love within the fast approaching temple in front of him. He exited the jungle and he kept running as fast as he could. This was it... once he sent the shuttle back, there was no option of going back. No, "mission failure". It was just him and the now. As he reached the temple doors where there were two sentries placed, with staves, the guards crossed their staves therefore denying Fox access to the temple, he had to stop or get seriously injured.

"Who are you and what do you want?" The guard on the right demanded in a harsh tone, raising his staff to the ready because he couldn't quite tell the intentions of the orange fox who stood before him,

Fox quickly raised his hands, a typical gesture pleading that he meant no harm, "Whoa, whoa, I mean no harm. I'm looking for, Elder Garry... is he around?"

The sentry had a sceptical look, which changed to a look of anger after hearing what Fox told him... that he knew the Elder on a first name basis, "Elder Garry, is the Queens personal guidance councillor... how do you know of him?"

"My name is Fox McCloud, I came to this planet with your returning Queen. In other words I am the Queens friend... well, more than friend I guess you could say, and that's why I need to know where Elder Garry is."

His eyes widened having met the hero of the planet, "Ah, Fox McCloud. Nobody gave me a description of you, I've only heard stories of you." He lowered his staff, "I am deeply sorry about that hostile act..." he assured and shook his head in serenity

Fox raised his paw in a non-caring manner, and dismissed the guard for his actions, "No, it's understandable sir, your duty is to protect the Queen, yes?"

The guard took a moment to process the question and then answered him. "Yes, indeed it is. Follow me I will take you to Elder."

...

Fox McCloud and the sentry guard entered a small room that looked similar to a shrine room back on Corneria, the only other person that was in the room was the Elder that Fox was looking for. The sentry gave a bow of recognition, "Elder Garry we have visitor."

The Elder looked up from his readings at the orange fox that entered the room after the sentry, "Ah, Fox McCloud, returning so soon?"

"I never left sir."

The Elder cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow in confusion, "But, the "shuttle" took off..."

Fox smiled and let out a soft chuckle, "That's the thing about technology, it can fly itself... I'm looking for Queen Krystal... it's a surprise too, so, please don't say anything."

The Elder smiled at Fox as he got up and placed a caring hand upon his shoulder, "I knew you would come back."

Fox nodded and smiled, "I care too much for her, and, the other night when we first found out about the reappearance of this planet, I made her a promise... that I would do anything for her."

"I always told her when she was younger that, she would find someone like you and make him, her mate." He brought Fox in for a short hug, welcoming him to the clan, "And here he is." He then released Fox and gave him a pat on the back, "Come, this way, I'll take you to Krystal and mask your thought patterns."

"Thank you, sir."

Fox and the Elder walked down a vastly decorated hallway toward the Queens chambers...

X-X-X-X

**Minutes prior** to Fox's arrival back at the temple, Krystal woke up from her catnap, it was going to be a sketchy topic to be able to get to sleep the next few days. Krystal got out of her bed and took her loincloth off and replaced it with a pair of shorts that she kept from her bag before she gave it back to Fox earlier today. When that was finished she looked herself in the mirror, she curled her upper lip back in disgust. It wasn't often she let herself go this bad. Her hair was matted on her left side, the side she was laying down on. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had tear troughs running down her cheeks where the fur was stuck together from the moisture and the salt from her tears. She had crusty eyes from her constant waking and sleeping spells.

Getting a pitcher of water and a washing basin she cleaned her fur and dampened her hair so that it was pliable. Once her fur was clean and her hair was straightened she exited her chambers after leaving a small few word note on the corner of her bed.

Walking by many civilians, she got some looks from them. And many of them had positive thoughts on their minds as they all passed by after saluting Krystal. Many of these thoughts were, '_W__ow, is she ever a strong willed person. To lose your lover and put on a straight face like that... Am I glad she's my leader._'

Krystal kept walking though the halls of the temple, she kept her eyes open for the Elders and for the guards. She saw Elder Garry come out of his room, and walk to the shrine-room. She stopped, eyes wide, '_Do__n't turn around... don't turn around.'_

Much to Krystal's liking, she was far enough away from the Elder that he didn't hear her thoughts and he never turned around. Krystal saw this to be her opportunity and started to power-walk through the halls to look less like she was on a mission and more like she was royalty wanting to roam the palace freely.

She went out the side door to the palace that led to a courtyard. Walking through the courtyard she paused and looked around to make sure she was alone, but as she did this, she dressed it up a little to make it look like she was admiring the view.

When the coast was surly clear, she continued to walk though the courtyard to the horse stable. Walking through she did a quick evaluation of each and took a quick glance at the colour they had to offer her, similar to a millionaire inspecting his cars and data logs to find the fastest and most reliable out of his or her lot.

She stopped upon a horse that she liked, "You'll do." she said and smiled as she pet the side of the equines head, she left it be and went to the other side of the stable where the saddles were kept and she got one that matched the colour of the horse; straight black.

The horse that she picked was special to her, this particular horse was broken by her father a week before it was time to leave the planet. It was a pure black horse, with no traces of any colour in its coat.

She carried the saddle over to the horse and placed it upon its back after placing a cloth mat on before, to protect its fur from the harsh leather of the saddle. When Krystal had the saddle put on the horse and done up correctly, she lead the horse to the gates of the stable and stopped. She slowly and cautiously looked out of the stable toward the palace, no movement occurred since she left, which meant she was free and clear.

She walked back to the horse and put her left foot into the left stirrup and bounced herself once to see how much force she needed to throw her right leg over the horse, and the second time she propelled herself up onto the horse. The horse whinnied and backed up a bit, "Whoa, easy boy, it's just me." She said to the equine and patted and stroked the side of his neck. "There, there, se-sè. There, there." She said and bent over the horn of the saddle and gave the horse a small hug. The name was pronounced "says-say", Cerinian for wild one.

"Ready for a ride, se-sè?" Krystal asked,

The horse did a small whinny and bounced its step while it shook its head, excitedly,

Krystal giggled at the response, "okay se-sè, okay." She kicked the horse once to get him moving slow out of the stable, she got out and thought to herself, there are guards out front. She pulled right on the reins to make the horse go right, toward a door on the other side of the courtyard, it was always locked so they didn't have to worry about guarding the door. Krystal unlocked the door and brought the horse out of the kingdom walls and closed the door behind her. Getting back up on the horse with a new found passion she gave the horse a solid kick, "YAH!" She yelled to get the horse going faster, quicker. She kicked it again to give it a boost of speed and leaned forward, balancing herself out as the horse charged down the trail. Krystal only spurred the horse now and again to keep it happy and also because when she was younger she was afraid of hurting the animal.

X-X-X-X

**P****resent time,** back in the palace Fox and the Elder were walking down the long hallway to Krystal's chambers, and at the end of the long vastly illuminated hallway was their destination; a taller than normal door, and it was arched at the top to give a royal effect.

The Elder gave a knock on the door and Fox's heart started to pound in his chest, he wondered what Krystal was going to say about him staying with her, on her home-world as her mate-for-life. Though Krystal wasn't in her room. Either that or she was very much asleep that she didn't hear the loud rapping on the door. The Elder knocked again and called her name. Still no answer, so the Elder opened the door to the chambers, the door being unlocked, was a clear sign that she wasn't in the room.

"Krystal, dear. I have a visitor." The Elder called into the room without opening the door fully as he still wasn't sure if she was in the room still just sleeping heavily.

The Elder opened the door fully and looked in the room, the bed's blankets were in a jumbled heap and there was a piece of parchment paper that had been inked, on the corner of the bed. Fox seen it before the Elder did, and walked over to it and picked it up and read it.

"Ah, writing as neat as ever." Fox said and smiled as he actually read the note left behind by the vixen.

'_To whom it may concern; went to ocean on horseback._'

Fox looked up from the note and back to the Elder, "Hey, Elder Garry. Where do you keep the horses?"

"The stable, why?"

"I know where Krystal went and I need a horse to go and find her."

The Elder cocked his head to the side, confused, "If she's not here... Where DID she go?"

"She went to the beach." Fox replied, folding the note and put it in his back pocket.

The Elder was still confused, he didn't know what to think about it. "What? How did she make it passed all of the security guards?"

"She's... not as helpless as you think... when she was working for Star Fox, not only did she fly and do hand to hand combat, she would also sometimes run stealth missions. Nobody would even know she was there until, suddenly something would blow up." The Elder's eyes grew wide and he was rendered speechless as Fox kept on about the topic, "That's also one of the reasons she is so special to me. She impressed me like it was nothing-" suddenly words came back to the Elder and Fox was interrupted in his reminiscing.

"You let her do all those things. And you didn't worry about her '_safety_'-"

Fox raised his hands and waved them, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said I didn't care or worry about her safety? Making her a part of the team was... like... the hardest thing I ever did. But an army woman once told me, "women can do just as much as any regular man, if not more" and that was the decision maker for me." he shrugged and dropped his hands back down to his sides.

"That didn't quite answer my question Mr. McCloud."

"Well, on a scale of one to ten, worrying about her well-being would take a spot at twenty. I felt like, I held her own worry as well, because she was '_that_' brave."

"So if you worried about her, why'd you let her do it?"

Fox held his hands up in defence, "Hey, don't blame me. Once she puts her mind to something... You '_can't_' stop her."

The elder pursed his lips together in a form of deep thought and recognition, "Krystal has '_always_' been one for adventure... I don't know '_how_' many times I've placed the order for a search party." He brought his paw to his chin in thought for a moment and then dropped it to his side, "I guess you better go and find her then '_teacher_'."

Fox laughed at the Elders humour, "Oh, no need to worry about that... I deeply intend on finding her and surprising her. By the way, she taught me exactly how to mask my own thoughts. Strange thing for her too. She told me, "just think of a rock, and hold that thought." and she never is able to read anything in my mind."

"That's an age old technique that one. Come, let's get you a horse so that you can go and find her for us-"

"Just so you know, I'm doing it for my benefit."

The Elder smiled "Right, she is your true love and future mate-"

Fox was stunned by the Elders words, "How do you-!? Oh, right... Never mind then."

X-X-X-X

'_Ah, this is what I needed... If only Fox could have joined me..._' Krystal was at the seaside, walking through the ankle deep water. She took her sandals off just after she got off the horse. Krystal liked to walk through the hot sand slowly to heat her feet fast and then she would walk through the water to cool them down fast. She liked doing this when she was younger as well it was like the best of both worlds and it helped with her pain tolerance exercise that she did bsecause she always wanted to be a warrior. Some nights she would have dreams about being a warrior in the very front of the battle, "first to kill, or first to be killed." Her father used to tell her when he found out about her secret warrior dreams. The dreams that she followed for a while, and made out to do. Krystal; queen of battle and power. That is what she dreamt of. '_Oh to be powerful... Wait... I '_had_' that life by the '_balls_'... Damn __Cerinia.__ Damn duties. Damn __Lylat._' Damn Cerinia she thought, if it hadn't come back, she could still have the life she deeply and truly wanted. Damn duties. She thought back to Fox, without duties, he could have stayed with her on Cerinia. Damn Lylat she also thought, if it wasn't for Lylat being so relationship challenged, Fox wouldn't have left planet Cerinia. She knew what he felt about her deeply and truthfully, and if they weren't mercenaries before, Fox also would have stayed on Cerinia with him as her mate.

Krystal kept walking through the water, now she was at shin height and wanted to go swimming. Though she knew from the start if she wanted to go swimming, she needed to change back into her primitive loincloth, otherwise her shorts would stick to her and they would be a nasty, pain-in-the-ass to get off later.

So that's what she did. She got out of the water and walked through the sand toward a group of bushes and changed from her shorts back into her loincloth, and went back into the water. This time she got out passed knee level and kept walking further out, water getting deeper and deeper as she kept walking. The water was now touching the cloth below her waist and she let out a surprised mew and shudder as she felt the water against her womanhood. When she was about navel deep, there was a drop off in front of her, and it went down three times her height. Diving in she swam down to the bottom and felt around, seeing if the bottle was still there. The glass bottle was a trophy from the first time she tried alcohol, she wasn't able to bring it back to the palace with her because it would've been taken away so, she hid it in a memorable spot at the bottom of this underwater cliff...

X-X-X-X

"Let's go Bandit, we got a vixen to find! Yah!" He yelled again, and kicked the horse to get every ounce of speed out of him,

Fox was on horseback riding quickly on the horse-trail through the thick forest. The path then stared to change colour and the trees started to thin out and he knew he was getting really close to the beach. He raised his head and smelled the air, it was crisp and fresh, not like the air on Corneria. '_I could live here... forever_.'

There was a fork in the trail and Fox went right toward where the Elder told him to go to get to the beach. "Whoa boy, whoa." Fox called to the horse pulling back on the reins to stop the horse.

Fox was riding a purebred gold stallion that had a dark face and dark ankles. It had been so long since he had rode a horse that it pained him a little to sit on the saddle, with him being a fighter pilot and all.

X-X-X-X

Krystal's ear started to twitch, hearing a different horse enter the vicinity, '_only one?_'

Krystal was confused, with her being Queen, the Elders would have sent a search party of at least five to ten. '_It's probably just a peep._' She thought to herself as she took a normal breath and returned back under water, waiting for the "peep" to resume his path.

X-X-X-X

"Come on, Bandit. Where is she?" Fox called and kicked the horse he was riding lightly to get him to move forward more.

He spotted the full black horse at the end of the trail that Krystal reportedly rode down to the beach from the palace and hitched his horse next to the other. He looked around the partially wooded area and, found it pleasant feeling. The feeling of natural peace and tranquility. Returning his gaze to the ocean through a tree line he saw unnatural ripples in the water so he bided his time for whoever or what ever was in the water to reemerge. Sure enough Krystal emerged from the water, standing up in the "just above waistline" deep water. She threw her head back, using centrifugal force to wring her hair out. Fox stood back a bit watching, clear minded so he wouldn't give his presence away.

Krystal took her time to look around a bit, she was cautious, and she was worried that some pedophile might be watching her from a distance. But it was nothing like that, Fox was just waiting a bit longer for her to go back under the surface of the water so he could make his move.

Sure enough, right to Fox's words, Krystal turned and dove into the water again. Fox swore that he saw something he wasn't supposed to, but he forcefully pushed that thought aside while shaking his head and speed-walked to the beach and sat down, legs extended with his right paw limp in his lap, and using his left hand to support his weight while he leaned back a bit, waiting for the intense moment to occour.

X-X-X-X

'_Alright, whoever's out there needs to stop fucking staring at me. I'm gonna deal with this, once and for all._' Krystal thought to herself as she was still under the surface of the water.

She was still unsure of who was out on the beach. Whoever was out there knew how to mask their own thought patterns from Krystal. This agitated her to the breaking point where she needed to confront this "somebody" that was out there watching her without her consent, and teach them that it was wrong to do so. Especially to the Queen of Cerinia.

She emerged from the water again and tossed her hair back the same way, creating a fantail of water that was thrown from her hair. She had blurry vision from the salt water, so she closed her eyes.

"Nice day for a swim huh, ma'am?" A masculine voice called out. It startled her, so she stopped walking and listened a bit more. She knew that voice like second nature, and she was sure that was the same voice that called to her when she was stuck on Sauria, in the crystalline prison that kept her dry but at the same time was sucking the life from her slowly for two days.

She paused and waited... was this her imagination? She still had her eyes closed to naturally flush the salt from her eyes and decided to test if she was dreaming or not, "Yes. Yes, it sure is. What brings you to the beach today, mister?"

The man who was sitting on the ground smiled and looked at her while focusing his mind on one thought,

Krystal started to picture the thought from the man in her mind, "Fox and I in the kitchen on Great Fox... a few nights ago... having tea..." she shook her head, "Fox and I were," she opened her eyes to the sight of Fox himself, "Al-" Her eyes shot wide at the sight, "FOX!?"

Fox stood up and held his arms out to the sides straight, "The one and only."

Krystal ran through the knee deep water, splashing it all about, trying to get to Fox faster to make sure she wasn't imagining anything that was happening in that moment. When she got out of the water she dashed through the sand and wrapped her arms around Fox. "You ARE real."

Fox laughed as he looked down to meet her gaze while laughing, "Of course, I'm real. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because, the shuttle, it took off and," she leaned in close and inhaled his scent, it smelled like he was hiding something, "are you hiding something from me?" she asked, her voice was muffled a little because she still had her nose against him,

Fox let out a nervous chuckle, "Uh, what makes you say that?" he asked as he had an unwanted flashback to a few minutes ago.

"Oh, I see what it is now..." Fox opened his mouth to say he was sorry, "no sense in trying Fox, it's okay... we'll get to that in a little bit. Now. Back to the part where the shuttle left the planet, AND YOU'RE STILL HERE!" Krystal squealed. She was struck in that moment that she could feel, smell, and hear Fox again. All she wanted to do at this point was hold her Fox and hear what he had to say.

Fox smiled impishly, "I put it on auto pilot, with a note telling Corneria that Star Fox has been disband."

Krystal was confused, never once did he want to give up Star Fox... for anything, "But... you gave up Star Fox... for '_me_'"

Fox nodded as much as he could. Krystal was love-struck that her planet was back and that Fox was retiring '_with_' her that she still hadn't let go of her love, "Hell yes. I talked to the Elder last night... I have the same feelings for you as you do to me."

"'_Fox_'" She sighed as she looked up at Fox, and leaned in close. Their lips met for the second time. Only this time, it felt more natural, it felt as though this kiss was '_destined_' to happen. They parted a few moments later and Krystal smiled and ruffled Fox's headfur, "Thank you Fox, for staying here with me."

Fox returned the smile and knelt down on the ground, he asked that Krystal join him she knelt down in front of him and they brushed noses, "Just like the other night, I would do anything and everything for you." Fox leaned in for another kiss,

When the kiss parted a few moments later, Krystal smiled at Fox and a thought came to her mind that caused her to hum a soft melodic tune to herself, Fox felt his curiosity soar, "What's up?"

Her and Fox stacked their tails on top of one another, Krystal stopped her humming and leaned in to a kiss, before she kissed him however, she locked his gaze, "Just wondering something," she said as she met Fox's lips for a short kiss and pulled away,

"And, just what were you wondering, dear?"

"Oh, I was just wondering, what you thought of the name Marcus."

_Fin_

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There we have it! The last chapter! Tell me your thoughts please, they will help me in the future. Don't forget to go to my profile and vote in the poll I have set up, as it has a lot to relate to my next story I have cooking. While you are there on my profile page, like my page on Facebook and follow me on twitter for updates. Thank you and until my next story this is Star-Hit signing off.


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